Today as part of my 50 beer challenge I’m reviewing a beer that I’m sure the self-righteous beer snobs are already making their way over to my contact page to complain (that’s what they do). Before you cry and whine about technicalities, I really don’t care, it’s my experiment. Why the controversy you ask? Well, I can explain it in 2 words, North Dakota.
First of all, I think we need to shed a brief tear for those living in the state due to the fact they are lacking in the brewery department (for now, Fargo Brewing is opening this year). If you check out Beer Advocate’s North Dakota breweries page you will only see Granite City Food & Brewing listed. While I’ve never been to a Granite City, they are a restaurant chain that also brews their own beer.
Just this year they started bottling their beer and distributing it in 5 states. Here is where the asterisk comes into play and you could fault me for technicalities. While Granite City does brew in their Fargo, North Dakota restaurant, their bottled beers are brewed in Wisconsin. For the sake of my 50 beer challenge, I’m classifying it as North Dakota as I really have no other option (plus Granite City was kind enough to send me a sample of their 3 bottled beers).
Enough of the back story and on to the beer.
While they sent me all three of their bottled beers, I decided to review their Brother Benedict’s Bock mainly because it sounded best to me.
Brother Benedict poured a very dark reddish brown color with about a fingers width of tan head that sat on the top of the glass a long time before dissipating and leaving some nice lacing. It almost had the look of Dr. Pepper with a little thicker head.
The aroma is very mild with some sweet malts, carmel and a touch of grain being the prominent smells. In my opinion it’s a very forgettable nose that doesn’t jump out at me or get me excited to drink it.
My favorite part of this beer is the light yet creamy mouthfeel. It almost reminded me of a cream ale the way it coated the inside of my mouth. The flavor however followed the nose pretty well and wasn’t bold in any way. Very little hop presence and all malts were the focal point with toffee, some slight coffee and carmel peaking through.
It wasn’t terrible and definitely a drinkable beer, just something that I’m sure I’ll forget in the next day or two. I’d definitely be interested in trying the draft version side by side and see if there is much of a difference.
My Granite City Brother Benedict’s Bock Review: B-
Here are the details:
ABV: ?%
IBUs: ?
Style: Maibock
What’s your thoughts on Granite City Brother Benedict’s Bock?
