This week will be dedicated to different styles of German beer: specifically Bock, Kölsch, Weissbier, and Dunkel styles. This was inspired by a school “discovery” project for a German Culture and Society course. I chose to research German beer because I didn’t know much about the history or the different styles and thought this would be a fun topic to discover on my blog as well. A little less than three years ago I traveled to Germany where I visited Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Lüneburg and Bremen but unfortunately I had not acquired my strong thirst for beer and I was on a tight budget :-/ Now this class has inspired me to explore the long history of German beer and then, well, I will have to go visit again soon 
My parent’s neighbors happen to have goats so luckily I could get a couple pictures of them! Goats are quite entertaining to watch as well but I won’t get into that
Bock beers are traditionally brewed for the winter season. Brewing begins mid October before Oktoberfest has ended. The Bock beer is brewed with the new harvest of malts and hops and is usually ready for enjoyment by the holiday season.
The Maibock translates to “May bock” which is a strong golden lager. It has been traditionally favored during the transition between winter and spring. Commonly it will contain more hops and be less dark than the Bock. In the time of the seasonal beers this would probably be the last bock before the summer beers.
Alright, now to the good stuff…the Spaten Optimator is a Doppelbock. This is an option for a Doppelbock from Germany that is distributed to the U.S. It is transparent dark brown in color. It is malty with hints of chocolate and caramel making it a creamy dark beer.
Though these are the main bock variations, the word bock may be accompanied with other beer types to refer to the strength of the beer.
Also see: Maibock
Please Share:
Have you heard other stories about the bock beer?
Have you tried any bock beers you would recommend?
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There´s an old german song (schlager music) . “es gibt kein bier auf hawaii” which meant that you can´t find any beer there (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSLd5z5cBA8). Times did change…you can find beck´s there
Did you taste all of them? What is your Connaisseur´s choice?
Do you mean out of all the German beers I have tried thus far? That is hard to say when they each are unique…and I really do appreciate many styles of beer. I am definitely not a huge weissbier drinker…I have liked all the doppelbocks and bocks I have tried…and the dunkels….and I love drinking a Kolsch he he
I´m not so much into different styles…but i get used to them rapidly
. I normally drink beck´s which is not that surprising….”Without Einbeck, there would be no Bock Beer.” And that´s close to where i live 
Oh that is awesome! I loved learning about the history of the different beers…and the goat aspect is pretty funny. When I was in Germany everyone mainly drank Becks too lol
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Great to see a woman that knows her beer. Great article have you tried an Alt Bier or a Berliner Weisse Bier. Spaten Optimator is one of my favorite Doppelbocks.
Thank you! I am still learning a lot but I love beer. One of my posts this week will be about the Kolsch style beer and in that I am going to include the Altbier imitation by Grimm Brothers (small brewery in CO). But no I am still discovering German beers. Please give me any suggestions on ones to try!
Thanks for stopping by!
I have been trying to find eisbock here in Colorado, but so far no luck. I may have to wait until I’m back in Germany to try it. Excellent post!
Thank you! Ya, I haven’t found an Eisbock yet but I really want to try it now!