Usually when a craft brewery makes a German lager – let’s say, completely hypothetically, something like a bock – it’s because they want to take a step back from novelty and innovation and adjuncts for a minute.
Not often do they pick a traditional style – again, for the sake of this completely hypothetical scenario, we’ll stick with a bock – and then throw in extra ingredients, like, say, salted pretzels and chocolate. Hypothetically.
If a brewery were to do this as an Oktoberfest release – hypothetically – you’d probably find that the sweet malty notes of a bock laid a strong foundation for these complementary flavours. Not that the pretzels would bring distinct flavours, per se, but that the toasty and caramelly heart of the bock would mingle with the chocolate and pretzels to create a real chocolate biscuit or chocolate cake smell. I do mean chocolate biscuit, not chocolate-biscuit-with-cream. And I do mean chocolate cake, not chocolate-cake-with-icing. The actual biscuit part. The actual cake part.
OK. Now, are you ready for me to blow your mind?
This isn’t just a hypothetical scenario. Lost Palms did this.
I totally had you thinking this was only hypothetical for a while there, didn’t I?
Mick Wüst
Published October 12, 2022 2022-10-12 00:00:00