12 oz brown bottle. Pop the cap for a sort of pine turpentine aroma. The label reminds me of the flying dog labels. Pours slightly darker than a typical pale yellow american beer but not much darker. Once in the glass, the aroma changes to a more sweet alky smell like that of a barley wine or strong ale. I’m surprised to see the label says big bock lager. Pretty strong alky flavor impact like a stronger ale. It readily states its alky content in its flavor. Pretty malty. Too much alky personality for my girlie taste buds. This beer comes off a bit offensive for a lager. I guess that is why it is rated as a stronger lager. Finish is medium malty hop bitterness that lingers. IMO not a session beer. Who says lagers don’t have the creativity of ales?

Draught chalice at Redbones on 12/26/06
Dull mahogany with light ebony tints and a slight flare of amber as well. Head is beige in color, quite small and poorly retained, fading to a ring rather quickly and leaving no lacing. Clear liquid, with medium-sized bubbles rising steadily.
Stiff, fruity esters barely cover up the alcohol warmth, while oily, toasted malts work with the bitter hops to create a dry, quite sharp/pungent nose. Some light, dark chocolate notes meld with the caramel malts to produce a bit of sweetness on the nose. But with breathing, it is swept away and wholly replaced by dry, yellow fruits, raisins and lightly piney hops. The malts recede almost to nothing, leaving a barren, soda cracker-like vapidness in their wake. And with a few more minutes, fusels arise and completely wipeout what was remaining, dominating the aroma entirely.
Caramel and bread are dabbed by yellow fruits (apricots, peaches, lemons), with a short-lived sweetness of pale and caramel malts that gives way to extreme wateriness for the style. Granted it dosent cloy with the sweetness and you certainly couldnt accuse it of being too thick and heavy, but this is just oddly thin. The strength of flavors, not to mention the horribly domineering, raw alcohol, does not fit with the body in the least. The flavor continues to dry, with brandy soaked raisins, crusty brown bread and flakes of dry, old toffee appearing. Wet/watery texture, medium carbonation which is very loose. Raw alcohol takes over in the flavor as it does in the aroma.

12oz bottle...2006...so the visual is over-concentrated iced tea...smells of strange spices(maybe too many)..delicate lacing...very mild creaminess with just to much imbalance, I notice this with all the cliper city brews that ive tried so far