The Spring Beer Tourey: # 1 Anchor Bock vs # 10 Abita Bock

      This is another # 1 vs # 10 seed battle.  Abita Mardi Gras bock has been a surprise for me, it's pretty good. Anchor Bock was last years runner up.  Anchor is a brown color with honey, caramel, mocha and prune on the nose.  Abita has really nice flavors of honey, caramel and citrus.  It also has a nice bit of body to it.  Anchor also is awash with good  flavors as well.  Mocha, prune, dried fruit, citrus and smoke.  This is a very strong dark bock, nice.  These are both quite good,but this Abita Bock is a real revelation.  I could drink a hundred of each of these, but I'll have a hundred and one Abita Bocks.  Boy not a good year for the one seeds.  Abita moves on to the Elite Eight.

Summer Beers: Summerfest vs Summer Solstice

O.K. I'm not a big fan of most summer beers. To me they are not as good as the hot weather beers that are already out there. Like mexican or Thai or Plillipino beers. Anyway I'm going to taste a couple that look promising in pairs to compare and contrast. First up is Anderson Valley Summer Solstice and Anchor Summerfest. Summerfest is a pale gold with light caramel, citrus and a bit of candy ( sweet tart) on the nose. Solstice is amber with rich caramel, light mocha, and crisp sweet citrus on the nose. The Fest is crisp with hop and caramels, strangely none of the sweetness I found on the nose. It's pretty bitter on the finish, but is a nice refreshing classic lager. The Solstice is very sweet with really rich caramels. It's like a dulche de leche beer. Actually, it seams like a take on a Dos Equis style amber, but better. There's some good hop here, but the malts really shine. This is really a unique, delicious beer, I have not had anything quite like it. The Solstice is a clear winner here, but the Fest is a good beer and could slip in to a second round. If I do a second round.

The Spring Beer Championship: The Buck vs The Bock

The final contest of the Spring Beer Tournament is finally here. Many beers have been consumed to get this far and now only Dominion Spring Buck and Anchor Bock remain to be drunk. These are both good beers and both should be sought out and consumed. But, there can be only one. The palate cleanser for today will be air. The Buck is an effervescent honey, caramel,tea, heavy alcohol delight. Wow, I just took a big hit of this air and it's really good. The Bock is big and brown, and full of flavor. What it does it does well, but can't offer the good complex flavor profile of the Buck. Boy that's some refreshing air. I'm just gonna keep pushing through here. The Buck manages to take unusual ingredients and make them harmonize. This is something that a lot of unusual beers fail at. The Bock is very solid and I find the last sip to be the best. The problem is the Bock is solid, while the Buck is exceptional. I have no problem crowning Dominion Spring Buck the Spring Beer Champion of 2010. I'd love to do it again next year.

The Flavorful Four: #2 Anchor Bock vs #6 Garde Dog

The highest seed left is Anchor Bock. And Today they face the upstart Flying Dog's Garde Dog. The palate cleanser will be burgers. The Bock has great strong mocha and caramel flavors. This is a creamy, rich, medium body dark beer. Ah yes, the joy of flame caressed meat. The Dog is a nice refreshing beer with sweet caramel, and some well balanced hop bite. These beers are both showing really well today. I just love the crispy parts on the edge of the burger. Let's finish this.
The Bock really tastes great today. Well balanced, tons of flavor. The Dog is also looking good. This is a good beer for any time of year and I think it would shine with a variety of foods.The Bock is really going strong, but the Dog seems to improve a bit. This will come down to the last sip. The bock is gone, good throughout. It's up to the Dog to show me something with the last gulp.And it shows me a tinge of that off flavor it can have, disappointing. Anchor Bock weighs anchor, and sails off with the victory. Now the final match is set, and Anchor Bock will meet Spring buck for the championship.

The Flavorful Four

Wow, we're already down to the last four beers standing. From the Mid-East we have #3 seed Dominion Spring Buck and #5 seed Sam Adam's Irish Red. The North-East brings # 2 seed Anchor Bock and #6 seed Flying Dog Garde Dog. Well Irish Red, welcome to the big time and good-bye. They are by far the least deserving beer left. I'd be stunned if they advanced. Then again, I was stunned when the toppled Glissade last round. Garde Dog is a real cinderella, but very deserving, having beaten stiff competition to get here. Both one seeds are gone, so Anchor Bock and Spring Buck are the remaining powerhouses. I think Garde Dog has a shot, but we'll see. Now, let's go right to our first match, Spring Buck versus Irish Red.

Round 2: #2 Anchor Bock vs #5 Rising Moon

The first contest of the second round pits Anchor Bock, the 2nd seed, against Blue Moon, Rising Moon, the 5th seed. Anchor is a spring bock while Rising Moon is a keifer lime leaf beer. The palate cleanser is pretzel rods. The descriptions will be far briefer in this round as you can always go back and look it up. Rising Moon is a pleasant beer to drink. The tart lime is nice but subtle enough that it marries well with the crisp hop. The best part of pretzel sticks is the salt. Beer loves salt. Anchor Bock is nice and rich with a mocha flavor and hops that sort of zing in and out.Munch, munch. Lets go sip for sip.

The Bock is a good beer with body and rich flavors. However, it's got a bit of an "off" yeast flavor and the hop is strangely intermittent. I'm not sure I'm crazy about the aftertaste either, but it's got such big yummy flavors. The Rising Moon is a nice balanced beer, that clearly would be a ten with a lot of foods, but it's beer v beer. The Anchor is starting to sway me. The Bock seems better than I remember and the Moon seems a bit duller. Rising Moon is just sooo nice and I'm sure it's gonna make another guy happy some day. No, it's not about you, it's about me. Anchor Bock, you minx, you've made me stray. Actually, as the glasses get down to the end, I find Rising Moon still has a place in my heart. Then Anchor Bock takes her top off, Rising who. Anchor Bock pushes Rising Moon aside to go on to the Flavorful Four.

Blue Moon

Anchor

#2 Anchor Bock vs #7 Saranac Irish Red

Switching to the North-east Bracket we go to our last Irish Red to go in the first round. It's the #2 seed Anchor Bock, a spring bock out of San Francisco, against the #7 seed Saranac Irish Red Ale out of Utica, New York. It's left coast versus east coast. The palate cleanser will be a roast chicken fresh out of the oven. Saranac pours out a light amber red while the Anchor is a not quite opaque dark brown. The Irish Red has a little hop on the nose that yields to a brown sugar scent,unusual. The bock starts yeasty with a bit of chocolate and caramel on the nose. The Saranac has that slight caramelized fruit which yields quickly to a decent hop bitterness. Pick at some chicken, wow the skin is crispy with a spicy herb rub, delicious. Anchor has made a bock with good malts and mocha flavors, but a surprising blandness, and barely detectable hops that appear only on the finish. This could be an upset.
Uummm, chicken. Alright time to put them head to head sip for sip. The Anchor lacks balance and the relatively weak hop in the Saranac overwhelms the bock. The bock fires back with a strong body and richness. I don't know if this #2 seed is going very far if it can't dominate this level of competition. Of the three Irish Reds in this tourney the Saranac is the weakest. More chicken. I look at the glasses and notice that the Anchor is quite a bit lower, you just can't ignore the evidence. The bock pulls out a squeaker, but how will it do in the next round against a tougher foe? You never know how the match-ups will end up.

Anchor Merry Christmas 2009

The full title is Merry Christmas Happy New Year 2009. This is a dark brown ale with secret ingredients. It's the 35th year they've made an x-mas beer and they are all supposed to be different. This stuff pours a lovely chocolate brown color and those rich roasted malt scents are heavy on the nose. The flavor is delightful, rich in coffee and brown sugar flavors as well as hint of baking spices. Damn, this stuff is good. I got it for 6 bucks a six pack at a Seven-11 ( clearly an error on their part) well worth it. I will be hunting this down next year and keep a few from this year in the back of my wine fridge to try next year.