Tranquility Base Bock

When I think of the great lagers I've enjoyed my mind goes to a few locations: Festbier in a tent at Oktoberfest in Munich, unfiltered Pilsner on the anniversary of Pilsner Urquell in a bar in Prague, and Doppelbock in a big field in the Virginia Mountains. The last one might not be as iconic but let me explain...

My version in a glass stein

Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia is a surprising wealth of breweries: Hardywood, Champion, South Street, Random Row, Pro Re Nata, Starr Hill, and Three Notch'd can all be found in Charlottesville or nearby Crozet. During the two years my wife was attending grad school at the University of Virginia I visited almost all of these breweries and had plenty of beers from all of them, more often than not appreciating the diversity and quality of offerings. It was a little surprising to see how strong the beer scene could be in this area when the place I lived at the time, the larger and more densely populated Arlington, Virginia, only had a couple of brewpubs that turned out mediocre fare and often shut down shortly after opening.

Not far away from the Charlottesville area, just south of Shenandoah National Park, and near plenty of hiking and outdoor activity areas, is Route 151. Taking this road south takes you straight to countless drinking destinations: Blue Mountain Brewery, Wild Wolf Brewing Company, Silverback Distillery, Bold Rock Hard Cider, Blue Toad Hard Cider, Veritas Vineyard, Flying Fox Vineyard, and Cardinal Winery just to name a few. While I had made the trip this direction a few times for different reasons, in February of 2017 I made it further south on the road, nearly an hour from Charlottesville, where, for the first time, I visited one of the best known breweries in the area: Devils Backbone's Basecamp Brewpub.

Devils Backbone is a brewery that is both loved and hated in Virginia and further abroad due to their great lagers (Vienna Lager is their flagship beer and a great example of the style) and their 2016 sellout to AB-InBev. One of the many Craft breweries to be bought out by what used to be Anheuser-Busch, Devils Backbone may be known as much for their vast marketing and availability as the quality of their products.

This is the pint that I fell in love with

While their sale to AB-InBev, and subsequent tactics by their owners to market and distribute their beers at the expense of Craft offerings, rubbed me the wrong way, I still believe they are the best producers of lagers on the East Coast and would happily drink a Schwarzbier or Baltic Porter from them any day of the week. So, with minimal reluctance, I found myself at the brewpub deciding what to order and the decision ended up being easy. While they had all sorts of terribly gimmicky beers (ginger Bock and fruited Hefeweisse to name just a few) the Basecamp Bound Bock seemed like an easy choice. And oh was it the right one.

Rushing into my mouth were waves of chocolate, deep rich melanoidin laden malt, full creamy mouthfeel, but also nuanced light fruit, fresh grain, and subtle spice, all ending in a crisp, dry, refreshing, and obviously lagered finish. I'm not ashamed to admit I drank a couple more while playing Kubb on their spacious lawn (fortunately I wasn't the one driving).
This is the long way of saying: I discovered how great Bock could be not from my travels to Europe but from an AB-InBev product in the middle of Virginia, go figure. I subsequently found out that this beer was actually the bigger brother style of Doppelbock and was even more impressed with the drinkability. The beer weighed in at a fairly hefty 7.6% ABV (it's a good thing I wasn't driving!). While Devils Backbone's site didn't provide much information (this link used to go to details on this beer but no longer does...) about the beer I knew that one day I would have to try to recreate it.

This brings me to June 2018, on the other side of the country, where I set out to brew a beer that rides the line between Bock (or by the 2015 BJCP definitions a Dunkles Bock) and Doppelbock, with a particular emphasis on noticeable, but not overwhelming, chocolatey character without coming off roasty or finishing sweet. Essentially I wanted this to be a bock/doppelbock that had the harmonious blend of complexity and simplicity only a malty lager can show.

Less dark in this smaller pour than other images

While I wouldn't call my Tranquility Base Bock a clone of the Devils Backbone beer (I doubt their version used Pale Chocolate Malt or some of the other less orthodox ingredients), and while it also didn't turn out perfect, I think I nailed my goal of a super drinkable, surprisingly strong, plenty malty, ever so noticeably chocolatey, refreshing lager.

I was not as rigorous with brewing notes on this beer as most batches but here is what I remember/jotted down:
Brewed on the stove top. Cooled down to 50F overnight then pitched almost expired packs of Mangrove Jack's Bavarian Lager and Fermentis Saflager W-34/70. Raised temp control and fermented at 55F for 5 days before being allowed to rise up to 68F for another 5. Tasting at that point showed no signs of diacetyl so it was cold crashed slowly over 3 days to 33F. After another 5 days it was transferred to keg, carbonated, and kept at 33F for another 4 days before raising the temp to 45F. The temperature in the kegerator has fluctuated between as high as 55F and as low as 19F (I didn't notice the thermostat fell out and the temp controller got the freezer cranking) but the beer has only seemed to round out more over time.

Tasting:

Appearance: Deep brown but not black. Early pours were very clear due to gelatin but late pours (as this one is) have some floaters.

Smell: Very malt forward: chocolate milkshake and fresh baked bread linger together. Some hints of toast and earth but hard to tell where that comes from, otherwise no obvious yeast or hop derived components.

Taste: Lighter on the chocolate than the nose would imply but still a nice light milk chocolate character mingles with the more pronounced notes of toast, bread, and a subtle but growing in the finish clean bitterness. Again, no real hop or yeast character present.

Mouthfeel: Medium-high body with medium carbonation, hit this one exactly where I'd like for the style so that it fills the mouth but doesn't linger too long.

Overall: Again, a beer that I'm very happy with even if it isn't exactly to style. I would decrease both the dark munich and pale chocolate malt slightly if I were to brew this closer to a traditional bock and increase the regular munich a touch if I were to re-brew with a doppelbock in mind. That said, I don't know that I'd want to change this beer much unless I was trying to win a competition.

10/9/18
Bottled 3 bottles from the keg and entered into California State Homebrew Competition under category 9A: Doppelbock.

12/8/18
Still on tap and still tasting great. The beer scored a 36 and received 3rd place in the Strong Euro Lagers category at the California State Homebrew Competition, a good result for a beer not brewed exactly to be a classic Doppelbock and at the low end of the category.

2/28/19
Thought this one had kicked but found out there were still a couple pints left and created the above tasting notes, still a super enjoyable beer more than 6 months after brewing.