Random Dutch beers (part forty-seven) - special Bokbier Festival edition

It's become a bit of tradition for me to drag Dolores to the Bokbier Festival each year.

Our plan is simple, arrive when it opens on Saturday, grab two of the three seats provided and bugger off again when it starts getting crowded. It works pretty well. The biggest challenge is avoiding the inevitable stinkers amongst the beers. Quite literally stinkers. I've learned some of the breweries to avoid, but there's always an element of risk.

I play it very safe to start with:

SNAB Ezelenbok 7.5% ABV
Darkish brown. Liquorice, sweetish, dark fruits. Not bad.

Rubelijn Herfstbok 7% ABV
Metallic and slightly odd tasting.

Dolores doesn't like either. So she nips off to the HEMA to get some orange juice. We've brought a plastic glass with us for this very eventuality. Dolores mixes her dodgy beer with orange juice.

"Much better," she says, "like an alcopop."

While she's finishing her alcopop I fetch another beer for myself:

Erik's Bier Imperial Stoute Chocolade Bok 9.5% ABV
Black. Does what it says on the tin. Very stouty and chocolatey.

Dolores: "Definitely chocolatey. Tastes much better than the stuff I diluted with orange juice. This one is like oil."

"Do you like it?"

"The other one was worse."

Animal Army Howling Wolf 6.8% ABV
Supposedly English in style. Fairly light brown. Sweet and vegetably.

Dolores: "It's OK."

Me: It's got an odd vegetably flavour. Like boiled cabbage."

Dolores: "Does it? I can't taste it."

Another conservative choice from me:

Emelisse Autumn Doppelbock 11% ABV
Mid brown. Smoke, smoke, smoke. And toffee.

Dolores (pulls a a funny face): "I don't know about that. Don't write down everything I say. I hate that."

She's not keen on the beer.

I've got Dolores what should also be a safe bet.

Lindeboom Herfstbock 6.5% ABV
Pale-ish brown. Much sweeter than I remember. Not quite as bad as Grolsch Bok, but going that way.

Dolores: "It's like burned sugar. Candy sugar. We had these orange lump things when we were kids. Really crap, cheap sweets."

Me: "Most of the sweets we had as kids were just pure sugar with lurid colouring."

Kleiburg Quadrupel Bock 13% ABV
Pretty black. Smells like an ash tray. Tastes like cheap bourbon that's been used to wash out an ash tray.

Dolores: "Tastes like pipe cleaner. It's far too strong."

Me: "What do you think?"

Dolores: "I couldn't drink that. Could you?"

Me: "It's 13%. I'll give it a try."

Me: "If you gulp it quickly you can hardly taste it. Just don't sniff, whatever you do."

I force it down and fetch another Emelisse.

Oudaen Herfstbock 7% ABV
Me: "How is it?"

Dolores: "OK."

SNAB Ijsbock 9%
I always save this until last. Mmm. Full of alcoholly goodness.

Dolores (pulls face): Quite sour, isn't it?

Me: "I don't find in particularly sour."

It's getting crowded so we pack up and go.

Dutch Dubbelbock 2015

The last in my series spun from this year’s Bokbierfestival programme. It’s a much shorter set than the others, with only 11 examples. Ten really, as one is just the 2014 of the same beer, Duits & Lauret Rook Dubbelbock.

Mommeriete and Zeeburg are the only to that were bottom-fermented. Which struck me as odd. Surely Brand can't be top-fermented, s the programme claims?

I have to start off with the term Dubbelbock itself. It’s a mix of Dutch and German. Proper Dutch would be Dubbelbok, proper German Doppelbock. You’ll note that none of the beers below uses either. I can only think of one explanation. Everyone is copying the name of Brand Dubbelbgock, the first beer of this type brewed in Holland.

According to the German definition, a Doppelbock should have a minimum OG of 18º Plato. Something all the beers in the table managed, except for Duits & Lauret and Bijdehand. With a gravity of 26º Plato, Emelisse have some justification for tacking on an Imperial to their beer’s name. It has the highest OG and highest ABV of any of the beers at this year’s festival.

A quick comparison with my other two categories is illuminating. Unsurprisingly the average OG of the Dubbelbocks is easily the highest. More surprisingly, it’s FG is only slightly higher, giving it this group the highest degree of attenuation. Not what I would have guessed at all.

That Dubbelbock is both darker and more bitter on average makes lots of sense. Though there is considerable variation amongst the individual beers for both. Which means I’m not sure you can read too much into the averages.

Time for the tables.

type	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Colour (EBC)	bitterness (EBU)
top-fermenters	17.17	3.90	7.18	78.64%	67.6	30.7
bottom-fermenters	16.83	4.20	6.86	76.37%	54.2	30.4
Dubbelbock	19.2	4.30	8.33	79.31%	71.8	35.5

2015 Dutch Duppelbock
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Colour (EBC)	bitterness (EBU)
2015	Pelgrim	Pelgrim Dubbelbock	19.3	2.94	9.00	85.71%	95	30
2015	De Lepelaer (H)	Beemster Dubbelbock	18	3.35	8.00	82.44%	40	75
2015	Bijdehand (H)	Provenier Dubbelbock	17.8	3.50	7.80	81.40%	80	25
2014	Duits & Lauret	Rook Dubbelbock 2014	18.0	4.08	7.60	78.52%	70	27
2015	Brand	Brand Dubbelbock	18.0	4.27	7.50	77.50%	65	27
2015	Emelisse	Emelisse Imperial Dobbel-bock	26.0	6.78	11.00	75.77%	45	45
2015	Duits & Lauret	Rook Dubbelbock	17.5				60	28
2015	Molenduyn (H)	Dubbelbock					85	36
2015	Reuzenbieren (H)	ReuZ Dubbelbock					100	35
2015	Mommeriete	Gramsbarger Dubbelbock	18	4.27	7.50	77.50%	65	38
2015	Zeeburg (H)	Zeeburg Dubbelbock	20	5.17	8.20	75.62%	85	25
	Average		19.2	4.30	8.33	79.31%	71.8	35.5
Source:
Bokbierfestival programme 2015, pages 24 - 28.

Maybe I’ll be arsed to do the foreign Bocks.

2015 Top-fermenting Dutch Bok

Tables – dontcha just love ‘em? I do, as you’ve probably already gathered. I really do have a thing about numbers. Can’t get enough of them.

You really wouldn’t want to see what goes on in my head. It even looks weird to me. But I’m digressing like a digressing stick.

My second look at the 2015 Bock crop is focused on top-fermenting examples. It’s a sign of the transformation of Dutch brewing that these greatly outnumber their bottom-fermenting counterparts. 63 to 29, if you’re interested. Though neither of those totals includes beers labelled Doppelbock.

Once again, a couple of the beers fall outside the parameters of a Dutch autumn Bok. Anything under 15º Plato is too low in gravity. And anything with a colour value below 30 is way too pale.

Though the two beers with the highest EBU value were both top-fermenters, there’s nothing to pick between the average bitterness of them and the bottom-fermenters. Most of the other averages are also pretty close, with the top-fermenters slightly higher in gravity and ABV. The biggest difference is in the colour, where the bottom-fermenters are significantly paler. Take a look:

type	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Colour (EBC)	bitterness (EBU)
top-fermenters	17.17	3.90	7.18	78.64%	67.6	30.7
bottom-fermenters	16.83	4.20	6.86	76.37%	54.2	30.4

I’m having arsing issues again so I’ll leave you with all the pretty numbers lined up neatly in rows.

2015 Top-fermenting Dutch Bok
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Colour (EBC)	bitterness (EBU)
2015	Openluchtmuseum Goye Goet	Herfstbock	14.5	3.30	6.00	78.24%	104	17
2015	Apeldoornse Bierbrouwerij DeVlijt	Veluws Schavuyt Bockbier	14.7	2.58	6.50	83.24%	52	30
2015	Leidsch Bier	Pumpkin Raisin Bock	14.9	2.05	6.90	86.95%	47	37
2015	't IJ	Ijbok	14.9	2.79	6.50	82.16%	17	24
2015	Van de Streek (H)	Black Bock	14.9	3.73	6.00	76.05%	66	57
2015	De Eem (H)	Eem Bok	15.0	2.89	6.50	81.63%	65	37
2015	Erik's Bier	Erik's Zwarte Piet bokbier	15.5	1.20	7.70	92.71%	90	31
2015	Gringel (H)	Valkenburgse Gringelbock	15.5	3.43	6.50	78.93%	40	25
2015	Scheldebrouwerij	Wilde Bok	15.5	3.43	6.50	78.93%	40	24
2015	Hertog Jan	Hertog Jan Bockbier	15.9	3.86	6.50	76.87%	100	23
2015	Kompaan (H)	Weizen bock	15.9	3.86	6.50	76.87%	140	41
2015	Attemer Brouwerij	Attemer Bock	16.0	3.04	7.00	81.93%	69	26
2015	Groningse Bierbrouwerij (H)	Hunebed bock	16.0	3.04	7.00	81.93%	70	30
2015	Jopen	4 Granen Bok Bier	16.0	3.04	7.00	81.93%		22
2015	Koningshoeven	La Trappe Bockbier	16.0	3.04	7.00	81.93%	95	34
2015	Maximus	Maximus Bock 7	16.0	3.04	7.00	81.93%	75	35
2015	Hemel	Rookbok	16.0	3.96	6.50	76.41%
2015	Hemel	Oerbok	16.0	3.96	6.50	76.41%
2015	Troost	Bok	16.2	3.81	6.70	77.63%	55	38
2015	De Vriendschap	Hopbock	16.3	4.11	6.60	75.97%	26	41
2015	EleganT	EleganT Bruintje	16.4	1.99	7.80	88.51%	81	38
2015	Largum	Guur	16.4	2.46	7.55	85.83%	62	37
2015	Bax (H)	Oma's pruim oude bok	16.5	4.31	6.60	75.10%	59	29
2015	Berging Brouwerij (H)	Koe Bok	16.5	4.50	6.50	73.98%	57	31
2015	Jantjes Bieren (H)	Udens Bockbier	16.5	4.50	6.50	73.98%	35	33
2015	Pauw	Pauw's Herfsttrots	16.7	4.71	6.50	73.07%	80	18
2015	Snab (H)	Ijsbok	16.9	0.31	9.00	98.27%	100	32
2015	Snab (H)	Ezelenbok	16.9	3.08	7.50	82.73%	90	32
2015	Breugems (H)	Saense bock	16.9	4.01	7.00	77.46%	72	28
2015	Bourgondische brouwers (H)	Willem de duitser	17.0	3.01	7.60	83.27%	94	34
2015	Mieghehn	Bokkendonks Bokbier	17.0	3.55	7.30	80.18%	65	36
2015	Klein Duimpje	Slobberbok	17.0	3.74	7.20	79.11%	85	32
2015	De Vriendschap	Tarwebok	17.0	4.11	7.00	77.02%	40	20
2015	Groningse Bierbrouwerij (H)	Brandaris Blonde Bock	17.0	4.11	7.00	77.02%	60	20
2015	Groningse Bierbrouwerij (H)	Kruisheren Constatinus Bock	17.0	4.11	7.00	77.02%	20	40
2015	Linden boom	Herfslbock	17.0	4.11	7.00	77.02%	80	22
2015	t Volen	Valenbock	17.0	5.04	6.50	71.71%	100	23
2015	Hommeles (H)	Bokkepruik	17.0				66	30
2015	Oudaen	Oudaen Herfstbock	17.4	4.54	7.00	75.20%	75	21
2015	Wageningen	Mordicus	17.4	4.54	7.00	75.20%	60	22
2015	Texelse	Texels Bock	17.8	4.36	7.33	76.76%	56	26
2015	Rodenburg	Bronkhorster Usselbock	18.0	5.19	7.00	72.57%	50	26
2015	Witte Leeuw (H)	Oktober 23	18.0	5.74	6.70	69.60%	90	24
2015	Het roze varken	Wintervacht	18.3	4.59	7.50	76.24%	63	51
2015	Oldskool (H)	Einbockish	18.5	6.64	6.50	65.76%	40	32
2015	t Wort Wat (H)	Polderbock	18.7	4.30	7.90	78.27%	77	31
2015	Rock city beers (H)	Bockalade	19.0	2.61	9.00	87.12%	160	30
2015	De Arn (H)	Bokkige Arn	19.0	4.43	8.00	77.97%	60	30
2015	Gooische biergilde (H)	De blauwe bock	19.0	4.44	8.00	77.94%	80	28
2015	Jopen	Johannieter	20.0	3.70	9.00	82.62%		22
2015	Oldskool (H)	Shut the Bock up	20.0	5.17	8.20	75.62%	10	20
2015	Rodenburg	Brok in de keel	20.5	5.17	8.50	76.26%	37	53
2015	Texelse	Texels Stormbock	21.0	3.01	10.00	86.66%	67	24
2015	't IJ	Dubbelbok	21.0	3.91	9.50	82.60%	52	25
2015	De Prael	Herfstbock	21.0	7.14	7.70	67.77%	60	29
2015	Praght	Praght bokbier 2	22.7	9.33	7.50	60.96%	80
2015	Naeckle brouwers	Naeckte bok			7.50
2015	Blauwe Ijsbeer (H)	Weijsbeer bock			6.00
2015	Dampegheest	Dampegheest bockbier			7.00
2015	Oijen	Oijens Bockbier			6.00
2015	Pampus	Bokshoorn			6.80
2015	Praght	Ftevobock			7.50		50	28
2015	Ramses	Ramses Bok			7.00		88	59
	Average		17.17	3.90	7.18	78.64%	67.6	30.7
Source:
Bokbierfestival programme 2015, pages 24 - 28.

Just Doppelbock to go.

2015 Bottom-fermenting Dutch Bok

There’s something I really like about the Bokbierfestival programme: it has pretty complete technical specs for the beers. OG, ABV, colour and bitterness. Dead handy for a numbers freak like me.

Which is why it’s surprising that it’s taken me so long to harvest any of this lovely data. A decade or two. What was I thinking of? With my scanner and OCR software, I had everything safely in a spreadsheet in a jiffy. Once there, I could start playing with it. As you do.

Now I’ve got the formula for converting Plato to SG coded, I can do all sorts of clever things. Well, not really, but I can flip around between the two systems. The main manipulation I’ve done is to calculate the FG and degree of attenuation. The sort of crap I’m usually – or perhaps unusually would be more appropriate – interested in.

I’ve decided to split them into two groups: top- and bottom-fermenting. When I decided on that I thought it would be a neat way of dividing the old from the new. Expecting all the examples from older breweries to be Lagers, and those from the new boys not. I was caught out by many beers falling into an unexpected group.

I’m still not sure whether I believe that Brand Dubbelbock is really  top-fermented. It’s also odd that some breweries with multiple Boks – Oldskool and Pelgrim, for instance – have examples that are both top- and bottom-fermented. So I’m not totally sure what my split has achieved.

I’ve excluded beers explicitly called Dubbelbok, though have left in ones whose gravity is in the right range (>18º Plato) but are just called Bok.

Though it’s nice to have a number for bitterness, the table demonstrates how careful you have to be with such figures. Of the traditional Boks, Grolsch looks on paper the most bitter. Yet I know from experience the opposite is true. Grolsch Bok in undrinkably sweet, coming over more like an Imperial Oud Bruin, full of artificial sweetener.

Overall, the average is very much like the classic Bok spec: 16 to 16.5º Plato, 6.5% ABV. Quite a few beers are on the pale side. I’d consider anything under 40 to be struggling to fit the style. I thought there were actually rules about the colour and OG in Holland for autumn Bok.

That’s me done, so here’s the table:

2015 Bottom-fermenting Dutch Bok
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Colour (EBC)	bitterness (EBU)
2015	Alfa	Alfa Bokbier	16.5	4.50	6.50	73.98%	47.5	26
2015	Amstel	Amstel Bock	16.5	3.58	7.00	79.39%	70	28
2015	Bavaria	Bok	16.5	4.50	6.50	73.98%	75	26
2015	Bekeerde Suster	Gewaeghde Bock	16.5	4.50	6.50	73.98%	60	26
2015	Budels	Herfstbock	16.0	3.96	6.50	76.41%
2015	Christoffel (H)	Christoffel Bok	20.3	6.21	7.80	71.02%	70	30
2015	De Leckere	Rode toren	16.1	4.07	6.50	75.88%	53	30
2015	De Noordt	Nooriit Bok	16	3.04	7.00	81.93%	45	25
2015	Emelisse	Emelisse Herfslbock	16.5	4.50	6.50	73.98%	45	17
2015	Grolsch	Grolsch Herfstbok	16.5	4.50	6.50	73.98%	70	30
2015	Groningse Bierbrouwerij (H)	Grunn Bock	17.0	4.11	7.00	77.02%	100	40
2015	Huttenkloas (H)	Winterbock	17.0	3.20	7.50	82.19%	46	30
2015	Kaf en koren (H)	De rook van Rotterdam	16.6	4.61	6.50	73.49%	43	35
2015	Koperen Kat	Delltse Donderslag	15.4	2.41	7.00	85.17%	45	43
2015	Maallust	Landloperbock	16.5	4.13	6.70	76.13%	62	32
2015	Mommeriete	Mommeriete Rookbock	16.5	4.13	6.70	76.13%	60	32
2015	Muifelbrouwerij (H)	D'n Ossebock	16	3.04	7.00	81.93%	35	25
2015	Oedipus	Speciale Bock	19	6.26	7.00	68.63%	35	25
2015	Oersoep	Sexy motherbocker	16	3.04	7.00	81.93%		35
2015	Oldskool (H)	Reinheitsgebok	19.5	4.98	8.00	75.88%	44	50
2015	Pelgrim	Pelgrim Bockbier	16.6	5.53	6.00	68.11%	70	30
2015	Sallandse landbrouwerij	Bokkige Theodorus	17	3.20	7.50	82.19%	46	30
2015	Scheveningen	Scheveninger Herfstbock	16.5	4.50	6.50	73.98%	65	30
2015	Sint Jutternis	Tilburgs bock 2015	16.7	3.98	6.90	77.32%
2015	Spierbier	Gespierde bock	16	4.16	6.40	75.19%	24	25
2015	Wispe brouwerij	Wispe bock	17	4.11	7.00	77.02%	57	30
2015	Zeven Deugden	Bock en Sprong	18	4.27	7.50	77.50%	34	30
2015	Gulpener	Gulpener Herfslbock	16.5	4.50	6.50	73.98%
	Average		16.83	4.20	6.86	76.37%	54.23	30.40
Source:
Bokbierfetival programme 2015, pages 24 - 28.

(H) means contract brewed.

I wish I could be arsed to go through th 20-odd Bokbierfestival programmes I have to pull out the full historic data. But I've other more urgent bollocks, let alone the arsing.

Top-fermenters next time.