What if I told you there's an entire category of beers whose name is, essentially, a long-running dad joke from the 1600s? Would you be at all surprised that I would want to cover it for Doin’ Beers, the only monthly Minnesota beer column full of bad jokes and decidedly mid tasting notes? No, I don’t think you would. You know better, dear reader, than to underestimate my affinity for dad jokes.
The style now known as “bock” was first brewed in a nice little German town called Einbeck in the 1300s. It was later picked up by Bavarian brewers in the 1600s, whose accent made “Einbeck” sound like “ein bock” (a male goat), and suddenly everyone was putting goats on beer labels.
Today, “bock” encompasses multiple substyles, all of which are essentially riffs on “malty (and typically dark) lager.” They’re also often associated with spring/Lent/Easter. This is especially true of Maibocks, which are lighter colored, hoppier than standard bocks, and traditionally served at spring festivals. I’ve covered bocks before: Folklor from Modist last year, Wooden Ship’s Doppelbock in 2024. However, I’ve never dedicated an entire column to them. But wouldn’t you know it, the stars aligned this spring and a bunch of breweries released bocks—enough for me to dedicate an entire column to the GOAT goats of Minnesota.
Schell’s Brewery: Bock
Bock / 6.5% ABV / 24 IBU
I’d be remiss if I started off my rundown of the best bocks in Minnesota with anything other than the OG Schell’s Bock. New Ulm’s Schell’s has been producing bocks in Minnesota since 1860, and its current iteration (which I don’t believe has changed since a 2009 reformulation) is a quintessential bock. From the moment you pour it, it smells like warm bread crusts out of the oven, and its flavor brings even more bread crusts with caramel malt. Its mild bitterness helps it dry out on the tongue, and it’s a lot lighter-bodied than you’d expect given the amount of flavor it has. Like most Schell’s beers, it’s imminently quaffable.
For those unfamiliar, traditional bocks like this are often candidates for Bierstacheln (beer spiking/poking) events, and Schell’s BockFest has been a driving force behind bringing this German tradition to Minnesota (and honestly the United States). These “beer poking” events are typically held in March and involve taking a hot poker from a fire and putting it in the beer to warm it up. A side effect of the ol' hot poke is that it caramelizes some of the remaining sugars, amping up the toasted flavors, and it can add an almost marshmallow-like flavor to the beer. Is it a bit of a gimmick these days? Yeah, but it’s fun.
Arbeiter Brewing Company: Maibock
Maibock / 6.6% ABV / 33 IBU
Maibocks are a much lighter-colored take on a bock, originally produced with the idea that they’d be consumed in… Mai (or “May,” for those of us who don’t speak German). In a lot of ways, they split the difference between a traditional bock and a helles, the traditional pale lager of Munich, resulting in a malty but not as robust lager that, in my humble opinion, is the best barley-based way to kick off spring. Does it ultimately make sense for this sort of hybrid beer to be grouped with traditional bocks (and their even maltier siblings, doppelbocks)? I don’t really know. But more goat is more better, right?
Longfellow-based Arbeiter’s take on a Maibock, as with most of their beers, is delicious. Its aroma is very light clean malt, and its flavor is surprisingly deep. It has mild malt and a touch of caramel along with a gentle kick of herbal hops. One thing I always appreciate about Arbeiter is that while they have a lot of German-inspired beers, they often give them a little something extra in the hop department—not enough to make those poor souls who “hate hops” recoil, but enough to make things interesting. Their Maibock is a great example of this.
Little Thistle Brewing Co.: The Goat
Bock / 6.3% ABV / 15 IBU
Rochester’s Little Thistle continues to be a delight, and took what I’d consider the objectively correct route to naming their bock given the trends of modern parlance. (How do you do, fellow kids?) As far as representations of the style go, The Goat is a great example of a traditional bock. It smells like toasted bread with light herbal hop notes, and it tastes like toasted bread with more caramel notes than any beer at 6.3% has any real right to have. It’s very lightly hopped, just enough to give it a mild herbal/earthy bitterness to balance the caramel a bit. Definitely easy-drinking.
Urban Growler Brewing Company: Bock & Maibock
Bock / 7.0% ABV / 25 IBU & Maibock / 7.0% ABV / ?? IBU
Most breweries, you’re lucky if they produce a bock, let a lone two. But Saint Paul’s Urban Growler, through one of the many powers of lesbianism—Master Brewer Deb Loch and “Co-Head Honcho” Jill Pavlak are married—managed to produce both a bock and a Maibock this year. This alone shows a serious commitment to beers named after horned cloven-hoofed ruminant mammals. But then they managed to get both of them on shelves? Unheard of. So when I saw one goaty boi from Urban Growler sitting next to another goaty boi from Urban Growler on the shelf at Zipps Liquors, I had to have them.
And guess what? They’re both great. Urban Growler’s Bock hits all the notes you look for in a bock. They describe it on Untappd as “bold, malty, and ready to kick” and I can’t really disagree with that or improve on it any. However, their Maibock is actually my favorite of the two, and has a clean bready aroma with a light malt edge that’s almost apple adjacent. The flavor is moderate bready malt with hints of apple to it. I’m not sure where the apple is coming from, since fruity esters aren’t a super common flavor note for maibocks, but I like it, and it makes for a very refreshing take on the style.
Inbound BrewCo: Silence of the Bock
Weizendoppelbock / 6.8% ABV / 25 IBU
So listen, I’m a sucker for a beer that looks like it might be evil, and I’m an immediate fan of any can designs that will pair with my vaguely goth-mom vibes. I would have picked this beer up without even looking at what it was. Lucky for me, it was also relevant for this column! While Inbound labels this one a “Bavarian-style Doppelbock” on the can, it’s classed as a “weizendoppelbock” on Untappd, which implies the use of wheat. Which one is correct? I don’t know. But I’m giving preference to the Untappd listing here.
Many doppelbocks these days are easily 8%, so the fact that this one is only 6.8% (not actually that far off of the regular bocks I reviewed above) is interesting. However, don’t let that lower-than-expected ABV fool you—it has all the flavor you’d expect from a much stronger doppelbock. Silence of the Bock smells like sweet caramel candies and coffee, and it has a really deep flavor with molasses and cherry notes over toasted malt. It’s not nearly as sweet as I expected, probably thanks to the lower ABV, but it’s still very decadent. Missing the booze bombs of winter and looking for something to smooth the transition to summer? This goat is for you.
