Geist Bock

Geist Bock from Golden Valley BreweryGeist Bock is Golden Valley Brewery‘s spring seasonal, a 6.1% beer brewed with a bit of poetic stylings in mind:

This is one of our rare lagers brewed in the style of the German Heiliges Geist Bock, or Holy Ghost Bock. The name refers to the lighter nature of the beer as opposed to the darker and heavier Doppel Bock and Mai Bock also brewed during the spring in Germany. There is a rich malt flavor, a firm German style lager head, and a clean lagered finish to this beer.

And no, lest you think this has made an early appearance, this is a review based on older notes. I’m still playing catch-up to an extent.

Appearance: Orange and a bit hazy… head is off-white and finely bubbled.

Smell: Sweet and rich malts—a bit malty and a bit of toffee.

Taste: Light and malty with a surprising fruit-sour character… kind of a lemony zest with a grape note. Bright, nutty barley notes. Even for that there’s still a bit of a kick.

Mouthfeel: Nicely medium-bodied and fairly clean.

Overall: For a lager, the fruity notes are surprising and not really to style… but, it tastes good so I’m willing to overlook that and reach for another.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of B+. On RateBeer, it scores 3.17 out of 5 and is in their 56th percentile.