Posted: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 12:00 am
You trust your parents for many things at age 2.
You trust they'll provide food, some that you may even eat; clothing to wear, even if you're inclined to take it off in socially awkward places; a roof over your head and four walls to decorate with complementary shades of your mother's lipstick. You trust them to keep you safe from the more obvious dangers of the world even while you spend every waking moment flirting with your own doom.
You trust they would not to paint you with hamburger grease and plunk you down in the forest as a bear-hunting lure. Or send you ahead to gauge the thickness of the ice during an early-season ice fishing trip. You trust, as I'm sure my own 2-year-old son did, that your parents wouldn't close you in a pen with a herd of corn-crazed goats, horned and twice your size, while clutching a handful of delicious kernels in each small fist.
Understandably then, his most memorable impression of goats is of intensely feed-focused, aggressively competitive beasts that will knock you down and steal your corn like a schoolyard bully taking your lunch money. For years after, any close encounter with an animal would be preceded by the question: "Is that an
aggressive goat/cow/dog/cat?" Whole new disciplines of psychology have grown from this first diagnosed case of Goat Aversion Disorder (GAD).
My impression of goats, formed by beer rather than mortal combat, is considerably more favorable. Bock is the German word for goat and also happens to be my favorite style of beer. (Well, today anyway.) The bock style basically indicates a stronger lager. In keeping with the capricious nature of spring, it can be a winter or spring seasonal. The origins of the name are debatable but I trust the late, great Michael Jackson in most questions of beer. According to his excellent 2007 book, "Beer", the name "probably derives from the name of the town Einbeck, which specialized in beers brewed from a high strength to survive shipping. When these beers reached Munich, the southern accent turned "beck" into "bock;" as bock is the name for a billy goat (like buck), this animal became the symbol for the style." Double bock, triple bock, Maibock, eisbock, Hellesbock are all evolutions of this style.
Black Diamond Bock is a limited release spring seasonal from Saranac Brewing in Utica, New York. Lighter in color and body than my winter stouts and porters, but not as light as the hefeweizens and pilseners of summer, it spans the gap between seasons nicely. A steady pour shows off a brew with the dark amber hue of old honey, topped with a nicely persistent head. The floral scent of hops greets you with the first tip the glass and some nice lacing clings to the sides of the glass as you sip. A wave of light carbonation carries the apple-citrus tinged bitterness of the hops to the back of the mouth. The heavier, slightly sweet flavors of malt and biscuit settle out along the way to linger on the palette. The pleasant, slightly medicinal alcohol flavor keeps things warm even after the other flavors have departed.
Six percent alcohol-by volume puts this bock right in range for the style. A miniature goat compared to the full-sized-mountain-goat double, triple bock and eisbocks that can get into the 7-10 percent range and beyond. The kind of goats you tangle with one at a time.
This may not be the absolute best bock I've ever had but it is supremely smooth and drinkable nonetheless. If you're looking for a companionable spring seasonal, one that won't kick you over and eat your milk money, you won't go wrong here.
Prost!