Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock

The other day we were grocery shopping at Whole Foods and as usual rounded the back of the store to the dairy and stopped at the discount wine table. Occasionally they have some good deals here on closeouts (but be careful of the five-year-old Rieslings - that can't be good) and on this day Wifey handed me a bottle she thought I'd like.

Not wine, but a special beer - Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock. The description sounded pretty good - here is what it says on Sam's website (it's listed under Extreme Beers):

Samuel Adams® Chocolate Bock. We started with a complex selection of carefully roasted malts combined with hand-selected Noble hops from Bavaria, the world’s oldest growing area. After using a centuries old brewing process, called Krausening, we slowly aged the beer on a bed of rare dark cocoa nibs from Felchlin®, a renowned Swiss chocolatier. Known for their quality these wild cocoa nibs, harvested from the rainforest of Northern Bolivia, impart complex aromas and flavors of chocolate, honey and vanilla in the beer. The resulting beer, Samuel Adams® Chocolate Bock, has a big, malty character that is combined with the subtle sweetness of chocolate, giving this brew a complex full-body taste with a velvety finish.

Tettnang-Tettnanger and Spalt hops were hand-selected from the world’s oldest growing area and combined with a complex selection of malts including two-row Pale, Munich and Caramel to create a rich and satisfying brew. This dark beer has a big, malty character that is combined with the subtle sweetness of chocolate. Samuel Adams® Chocolate Bock was aged on a bed of cocoa nibs to create its unique layers of flavor. As the beer matured, the fruity, tart, earthy and chocolate aromas were released into the liquid to give the brew a complex, full -bodied taste with a velvety finish. A hint of vanilla was added to meld the symphony of flavors together.

Beer with chocolate, honey, and vanilla flavors? It sounds good to be sure, but I've tried others with chocolate claims before and been sorely disappointed. Still...it SOUNDED good...

It was also spendy. I have no idea if this was the initial price or not, or if it was marked down for this table, but the price sticker said $13.79 for a 20 ounce bottle. Yowza! And I thought $11.99 was expensive...

But what the hell, you only live once and it's just money, right? They had two bottles but I only bought one. I was actually kind of excited about the potential flavors, so when we got home I tossed it in the freezer for a bit to give it the requisite chill. Then I popped the top and poured it, a very smooth, dark liquid - almost thick. Not Guinness thick, but thick, with a chocolatey aroma. So far, so good.

After a couple drinks I was hooked. Not only did this live up to the billing of a chocolate flavor, but the other flavors were all there as well with a nice malty taste. In fact, I think it also had a taste of caramel, but that could just be the mixture of all the flavors. It wasn't sweet, but it was pleasing, something great for sipping during an afternoon of football.

Wifey, who doesn't drink beer but likes to at least give it a taste if it smells interesting, didn't hate it - which is high praise.

And if you don't think I'm grabbing the other bottle if it's still there on my next Whole Foods trip... Well, then you haven't learned anything from this blog. :)