Sunday, September 7, 2014

Sunday Night Suds - Josephs Brau Heller Bock


This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Joseph's Brau Heller Bock.

After a number of years without producing new kosher varieties of Joseph's Brau (aka Trader Joe's beer) it seems that there are finally a few new beers in the pipeline. Besides the Heller Bock which is being reviewed in this column, there is a new kosher hard apple cider (Henry Hotspur Hard Pressed Cider) and a few more on the way.

The Heller Bock is a Mailbock/Helles Bock which is defined by the experts at BA as:

The Maibock style of beer tends to be lighter in color than other Bock beers and often has a significant hop character with a noticeable alcohol around the same as a traditional Bock. Maibocks are customarily served in the spring and are oftentimes interrelated with spring festivals and celebrations more often in the month of May.

Its been a while since I went beer shopping at Trader Joe's, so I am not certain how long the Heller Bock has been available there. I am relatively certain that I was there in late spring and I don't recall seeing the Joseph's Brau Heller Bock on the shelves, but it could just have been the store that I was in.

The Joseph's Brau Heller Bock poured a rich copper with significant foam and lacing which remained on the glass for more than 1/2 an hour. The beer itself tastes like a bock with no significant hop character. As beer goes, its rather not obtrusive and more sweet malt than anything else.

Joseph's Brau Heller Bock is under the Kosher Supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit and there is a tiny Va'ad Hakashrus symbol on the back of the bottle. Please keep in mind that not every Trader Joe's brew is under kosher supervision, so check the label or search my site for the link to the latest list of beers under kosher supervision.

To see what the experts at Beer Advocate think about this beer, click this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/10707/108016 .

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

Finally, if you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

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