Bock-Beer Bout: Holsten Festbock vs. Brasseurs du Monde l'Entêté

As alluded to already last week, winter beers are on the agenda, and we start today with a little squaring off between beers of the assertive variety for the hardy types: Bock beer, a style whose legendary pedigree in the German town of Einbeck foreshadows homebrewing, as the Oxford Companion to Beer reports. Citizens, is says, were not allowed the right to a brewery but allotted a ration of malt and given the right to brew in their basements, under the auspices of the city which supplied a brewing method and city-owned brewing equipment that traveled from house to house so the people could make beer in a more or less standardized way. Bock beer was also usually brewed to a stronger alcohol level to supplement the food diet during lent and other fasting periods that lead up to a holiday (hence the name Festbock).

The bout today is a match of David versus Goliath, one from the home of Bock beer, Germany, the other from the provincial backwaters of Quebec. A made-for-export beer made by Holsten-Braueri A.G. of Hamburg, a subsidiary of the gigantic Carlsberg Brewery, against the locally produced specimen from Les Brasseurs du Monde in St. Hiacynthe, QC, a beer brand that is so obscure, it is not even listed on the company's website. One bock in a bottle, the other bock in a can. And finally, the location of the bout at "I am thirsty for a beer", home of the most pro-German beer judges of all of Canada's beer blogs, loads the deck with the stench of partisan partiality. Here they are, first the self-imagined reigning Champion of the Bock Beer World in the green corner, wearing the armor and wielding a shield: Holsten Festbock. And in the red corner, the unknown challenger, wearing the proud horns and sticking his snout voraciously into a beer mug - hence the name, I suppose: L'Entêté (possibly meaning "faced in').

Bock!!

Round one is an even affair, with both combatants testing each other's strengths and weaknesses. The nice bottle of the L'entêtê lands a body blow to the inherently inferior can of the Festbock, while Festbock replies with a whopping 7% strength, compared to 6% by L'Entêté. They draw each other close on aesthetic design and container size (500 ml each). I do like the black knight on the green background, yet the facial expression and stance of the ram on L'Entêté demonstrate once again the artistry of beer labels in Quebec. Round one ends lively and on par.

Pictures to come!

As the second round starts, l'Entêté opens with a malty aroma pushing out, while Festbock reponds with a soft nose-butt of ethanol and malt. As I have observed from previous experiences with bock, either beer does not build as strong a foam head as one might expect and certainly not as some other beers - it seems the head is less stable possibly because of the high alcohol content. On first sight, Festbock lands the upper hand, producing more and smaller bubbles, but they fizzle out from below and stabilize to the level of those by L'Entêté. In the end, each produced a small but relatively thick textured foam top, enough to cushion some of the head blows by the opponent. Festbock's colour is slightly lighter than l'Entêtê, yet both have a pleasant copper tone that promises a malty smothering of the palate.

Round three - now the bout is up for the tasting, and it is over as soon as a combination blow lands Festbock on the floor. What a tsunami of malty richness l'Entêté unleashes on my palate. The front is viscous and grainy, mixing in some grist texture in the middle palate, and finishing with a pleasantly balanced combination of grain and hops bitterness. It is true to the style - rather malty and gently hopped. Festbock just does not measure up, and the judges are overtly exasperating while privately gleeful. The Festbock has a sugary sweetness with ethanol undertones, and a slightly watery palate in comparison. The back palate is dominated by a lingering sweetness, not unpleasant but too ephemeral to stand up to the mighty malt mallet of l'Entêté. Unfathomable, the provincial lightweight heaves the hometown favorite over the ropes with ease, and the lacings on the glasses tell where the malt was.

 l'Entêté

Festbock