[geo1267]

Anyone else try this? I found this on tap yesterday and was excited to try it. I am a yuengling fan,is my family is from Schuylkill County PA.  I thought this was a decent representation of the style. It has a lot of the same characteristics as the Lager but more body and mouthfeel an d slightly sweeter. I did purchase some Spaten Oktoberfest for a comparison and limed the Spaten much better.

Here is a link with more info.

 http://mobile.pennlive.com/advpenn/pm_29242/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=Iw1AyI6s

[jeffy]

Anyone else try this? I found this on tap yesterday and was excited to try it. I am a yuengling fan,is my family is from Schuylkill County PA.  I thought this was a decent representation of the style. It has a lot of the same characteristics as the Lager but more body and mouthfeel an d slightly sweeter. I did purchase some Spaten Oktoberfest for a comparison and limed the Spaten much better.

Here is a link with more info.

 http://mobile.pennlive.com/advpenn/pm_29242/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=Iw1AyI6s

Thanks for sharing that article.  I will check into it, since it says they brewed it in Tampa as well as Pottsville.  I was told that the Bock they made in the spring was simply a blend of their other beers.  The OFest sounds like a new recipe.

[geo1267]

The Bock is not a blend it is a recipe they produced regularly way back and discontinued except for occasional seasonal releases. It was reintroduced 3 years ago as a spring seasonal.

The Black and Tan is the blended beer. It is a blend of the Porter and Premium.

[jeffy]

The Bock is not a blend it is a recipe they produced regularly way back and discontinued except for occasional seasonal releases. It was reintroduced 3 years ago as a spring seasonal.

The Black and Tan is the blended beer. It is a blend of the Porter and Premium.

Hmmm.  The brewmaster at the Tampa brewery told me in early 2010 that they made up the Bock that year in the lab, meaning they blended their existing beers to formulate it. This year I think they made a new recipe. 
Black and Tan is indeed a blend of 68% to 32% Lager and Porter.

[geo1267]

The Bock is not a blend it is a recipe they produced regularly way back and discontinued except for occasional seasonal releases. It was reintroduced 3 years ago as a spring seasonal.

The Black and Tan is the blended beer. It is a blend of the Porter and Premium.

Hmmm.  The brewmaster at the Tampa brewery told me in early 2010 that they made up the Bock that year in the lab, meaning they blended their existing beers to formulate it. This year I think they made a new recipe. 
Black and Tan is indeed a blend of 68% to 32% Lager and Porter.

Maybe that is why the Bock tasted different to me last year. Perhaps they did it to cut costs and produce more to account for an  increase in demand?

[Jimmy K]

I can't imagine which two Yuengling beers would blend to create a bock. Just doesn't make sense.

[jeffy]

They do use a darkening agent to make sure the color is consistent from batch to batch, kind of like sinemar, but a different brand.  Perhaps using this and their regular lager would make sense.  As I recall, the beer was not as malty as a "real" German Bock beer that year, more like Shiner or Michelob Dark, which to me are not much more than darkened American Lager. 
He told me that in that first year of specialty production at the Tampa brewery, they didn't want to make 500 barrels in an untested market.
In 2011 they made a regular all grain batch.
Sorry my memory is not so good on the quotes.  I'll see if I can get more info from the brewer.
It's good to see that they are responding to the craft beer market.

[bluesman]

I haven't seen it here in Delaware yet, but I also haven't looked for it specifically. I'll keep a lookout for it. Thanks for the heads up.

[geo1267]

I haven't seen it here in Delaware yet, but I also haven't looked for it specifically. I'll keep a lookout for it. Thanks for the heads up.

Bluesman I don't know where you are in DE, but I live in the West Chester/Malvern PA area. The Wegman's in Malvern had it on tap last week. Not sure if they still have it.

[The Professor]

...It's good to see that they are responding to the craft beer market.

Yes it is, indeed.  Even 40 years ago when they were basically just barely staying afloat,  Yuengling was making a porter and an ale and I really think that this helped them in the late 70's early 80's when their outlook brightened up and sales increased.  They already had long established products in a niche that new brewers were only just discovering.
Granted that their specialty beers are not as "in your face" as some of the more intense (and often overdone) micro stuff out there, but they are solid beers nonetheless. 
I'm sue that we'll be seeing many more specialty products in the coming years from other regional and even large brewers. 
And I'll bet that some of them will probably be pretty good, too.

[bluesman]

I haven't seen it here in Delaware yet, but I also haven't looked for it specifically. I'll keep a lookout for it. Thanks for the heads up.

Bluesman I don't know where you are in DE, but I live in the West Chester/Malvern PA area. The Wegman's in Malvern had it on tap last week. Not sure if they still have it.

Thanks for the tip. I'm about 1.5 hrs from there but if I'm ever up that way I'll stop in for a .5L.