Winter Bock

A Barley Wine was always on our hit-list - we just never imagined it would be so successful! It's maybe not as strong as some takes on this style of ale, but a) we wanted it to be very commercially viable and b) we can't get any more malt in our mash-tun.

The name was inspired by a trip to Chesterfield's German twin-town of Darmstadt during the very cold winter of 2010, and a conversation with the Braumeister of Grohe Brewery. He explained how German brewers brew a winter ale called a "Bock" Beer - dark in colour and sweeter in nature - and went on to explain the reasoning behind the name which may, or may not, be true. He reckoned that many, many years ago there was a brewing monastery in a German town called "Einbeck" (I don't even know if the town exists, let alone if I've spelled it right) and the locals would buy the beer by asking for it by the town-name - "Einbeck".

Now I didn't take German at school, but even I know that the German for "One" is Eins - so people asking for "Einbeck" eventually got misconstrued as "One Bock".

As I say - no idea if it's true, but one of those nice little stories that feels like it ought to be. Oh - and in German, Bock is a male goat - which explains why he makes an appearance on the pump-clip.