For Winter time, I generally brew a darker and slightly stronger beer. This year I wanted to switch it up and brew a stronger lager, since I normally do stouts. After researching some styles I settled on one that I wasn’t familiar with, the Dunkles Bock.

The notes from the BJCP style guidelines:

A strong, dark, malty German lager beer that emphasizes the malty-rich and somewhat toasty qualities of continental malts without being sweet in the finish.

It sounded like the perfect style for the season so I went forward with brewing it.

Recipe for this post can be found here.

Appearance

The beer pours a clear ruby/amber hue. It has a small off-white fluffy head that leaves a small amount of lacing on the inside of the glass. There is visible carbonation.

Aroma

The nose has a malty aroma. A touch of caramel, toffee and some toasted notes.

Taste/Mouthfeel

There is a medium amount of carbonation. The taste has some toasty overtones and a small amount of caramel that was picked up in the nose. It’s not cloying despite the fact that it finished 4 points higher in gravity than I was planning. It has a refreshing crisp lager flavor in the finish. No real hop bitterness and finishes with a kiss of sweetness.

Impressions

Despite the higher final gravity this ended up not being too sweet. I was quite worried about that, but based on my tasting notes and some from friends we seem to agree that it hits the mark. A really nice style for the cooler months, I’d definelty brew it again.