1888 Bock - Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company

pmcadamis

Illinois

3.3/5  rDev +0.9%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

A - Dark amber with a one finger beige head. This is darker than I thought it would be, and the head is persistent despite the lack of lace.

S - Earthy toasted malt with a hint of espresso and caramelized sugar. This smells like warm maple syrup served in a cabin near the tree it was tapped from. This really nails the "Nort-woods of Wiscansin" aroma to a tee.

T - Like the nose, this is earthy and dirty with a nice moderately sweet molasses an maple syrup note combined with a more bitter dark coffee flavor. When I say "dark coffee" I by no means mean that this is in stout or even porter territory, but it does have a tiny hint of roasty black coffee bean that really helps add complexity to what could have ended up being another relatively boring brown ale.

M - Light bodied, crispy carbonated, and pretty damn dry on the finish. Honestly, this one has more balls than most other Leinie offerings, and the finish is indicative of that more forward nature. The finish leaves lingering malt and black coffee bean pleasantries on the tongue for minutes after the swallow.

D - Well done! I honestly have quite a bit of beef with Leinenugels... I consider them to be one of the shittier "craft" brewers out there. They are slowly redeeming themselves though. I was impressed with Creamy Dark and their most recent offering, Fireside Nut Brown, and this is about of the same level of moderately good brew. Leinenkugels will never be overly adventurous, and they will always make anemic under-flavored brews, but for what it is this ain't bad. It was pretty damn cheap too. If this was a dollar or two more per sixer I might have rated this slightly lower. I know money isn't supposed to influence our reviews, but in light of the current state of the economy it alters my choices in the bee aisle so why not add that factor into the drinkability score?

Serving type: bottle

01-26-2009 02:00:28 | More by pmcadamis

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