Abita Bock

[Wilson]

I had this a while back, had it again tonight, and my notes were still pretty dead on.

Poured deep golden with an off-white head that dissapated quickly, with no lace as I drank it down.

Nose is of wheat, some malt...but not very strong.

When I drink it a "dirty" malt comes to mind. A malty back. Maybe early boil and in low quantity hop additions; has a balanced malt/hops bitterness, but not heavy on the hop flavor or aroma, in fact I dont detect much of any hop aroma.

I am not an experianced bock drinker, so some of this may be normal. As it warmed, the beer seemed to grow on me. However, it seems to have that typical Abita taste. It must be the water from the springs there? Overall a decent beer, but I cant get over how all Abita's have a certain something similar to them. Ahh well, have to represent the Louisiana beers!

Prost!

[steveh]

Originally posted by Wilson
I am not an experianced bock drinker, so some of this may be normal.

Wheat nose is not a usual characteristic of a Bock, unless it's a Weizenbock, of course.

I haven't tried the Abita line in a long time, and one of the local stores carries a few...

S.

[Caffinehog]

Yeah, all abita seems to taste the same. It's good, though.
They probably have a single strain of yeast and they may use the same bittering hops in everything, as well as the same base malt. A lot of breweries use only one or two of each of these in order to save money.

[BluesHarp]

I drank a fair amount of Abita recently while in New Orleans; while I found the bock very ordinary, I did enjoy the Turbodog (a nutty brown ale) and the Andygator Barleywine (available draft only).

Going on a bit of a tangent; The Crescent City Brewery, maligned by many, was serving an IPA. I quizzed several of the waitstaff until I found someone who actually knew something about beer. It turns out that they have recently begun brewing ales, and this was their inaugural brew (at least that's what they told me); I must say it was excellent!...very fresh hop taste and aroma, yet very nicely balanced with a slightly sweet maltiness.
We ended up there nearly every day so I could have a pint or two...easily my favorite brew of the trip.

[chazwicke]

I enjoyed dinner at the Abita brewpub in Abita Springs. I have enjoyed many beers at Crecent City. I have a few small bottles of Andygater. I think they must be 8ozers

[the4th]

Abita has a high sulphur content in their water. I've heard people complain that it comes through in their beer. I think their Golden is a near perfect session / outdoor / everything beer. If Bud produced that instead of the watery swill they pawn off on so many, I'd drink Bud.

[Stodbrew]

I liked the Abita brewpub. Kind of a cool little place. Definitely an interesting place. As far as Crescent City, when I was there, the beers were nothing special, but they weren't bad. It's nice to see them branching out and trying new styles.