6.2

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Bottle from a local bottle shop. Aroma is dark malt with lots of caramel, toffee, candy sugar, soft fruity notes, and a touch of chocolate, nuts and marzipan. Flavour is pretty sweet with a light bitterness in the finish. Body is medium. A fine sturdy Bock.

7

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

330ml Can - Dark amber in colour. Malty aroma with some hints of dried fruit and caramel. Malty and fairly rich taste with caramel, leather, dried fruit and some hints of nutty toffee.

7.4

Pretty good bok. Could be a bit cleaner. The cara flavours that are there are wonderful. Just a touch less cloudiness and this beer is world-class. Sterk am

7.2

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Brown with a frothy head. Caramel and dark bread aroma. Faint spice. No real fruitiness, instead drifts in a herbal, grainy direction. Taste is very mildly bitter, the roasted bitterness just overlaying the rich, caramel sweetness underneath. A brown sugar sweetness with a hint of fruit jam carries the finish. Medium bodied, mild carbonation, nice chewiness. Pretty good.

5.5

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5

Dunkler, trocken röstiger Beginn. Mit der Zeit süßer werdend, mild bitter, für einen Bock kann man schon sagen: Typisch NL. Kräutrig hefig, mittellanger Abgang. Okay. 10/8/9/8/11/8

6

33cl bottle. A clear reddish brown beer. Aroma of sweet dark malt, caramel, red fruits. Taste of dark Red fruits, caramel, raisins.

6.9

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Donkerbruin bier met mooie schuimkraag. Smaak is licht bitter en licht zoet met iets van chocolade, karamel en ietwat rook. Het herfstfruit niet kunnen ontdekken maar desondanks een goed bier.

7

Bottle from Beerwulf. Pours a murky mahogany colour with a thin soapy looking off-white head. Aromas of dry dark fruits and caramel. Taste is more dark fruits, caramel and added roasty notes and nuts. Medium bodied, smooth slightly oily mouthfeel and a dark fruity and roasty finish. One of the better Dutch bocks i have tried. Nice one

6.9

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Bird's contribution to the yearly Dutch Bock season, longneck bottle bought online. This is not the right time of the year for this one, I know, I should probably have their spring beer instead (also waiting in my collection), but it's still good until August and I was in the mood for a malty beer, so here I go. Very slow gusher - some foam appearing on top of the bottle neck seconds after opening, but no cleaning issues or anything like that. Medium thick, irregularly membrane-lacing, small-bubbled, pale yellowish beige, opening but otherwise well-retaining head, hazy mahogany brown robe with ruddy, almost amberish hue. Aroma of hard caramel candy, crumbled cookies or cookie dough, ginger powder, dried fig, caramelized yellow raisins, red apple, raw cinnamon, brown bread crust, sugared tea, hints of autumn leaves, candied cherries, poached egg yolk, beef stock, fresh bay leaf, white pepper. Crisp onset - a tad too crisp for a Dutch bok, perhaps - with fruity notes of fig, pear, medlar and red apple, but all in a 'dried', sedate way; sweet with a sourish edge, accentuated by all too lively, minerally carbonation, which nevertheless concurs with this particular style's normal profile. Slick caramelly malt sweet body with dry cookie- and walnut-like aspects, smooth oats and background rye 'spiciness', shifting to more toasted bitterness towards the end, where a herbal, tea-like but effectively bittering hoppiness shows up, not dominating, but reinforcing the toasty bitter aspect of the malts. Meanwhile this rounded caramelly sweetishness also continues, adorned with spicy notes reminiscent of clove, cinnamon and perhaps very vague nutmeg. Quite dryish, herbal, slightly earthy finish, but the caramelliness of the malts gets the last word, as it ought to be in a Dutch bokbier. Classically conceived, perhaps even a bit more so than I was expecting from the Bird brewery, but decent, tasty and well-balanced as usual (and a proper tribute to the humble jackdaw, a bird species I've watched with interest since my childhood); bears a characterful bitterness in its tail, which comes out a bit more pronounced than is traditionally the case in this genre, almost reminiscent of American style brown ale in combination with the caramel cookie-like maltiness. In all, a fine Dutch bokbier for sure, enjoyed it even with hot and sunny spring days ahead. Makes me curious for that spring beer of theirs, too.