Zauber Brewing Co. Empire Strikes Bock (8/10)

Grandview's Zauber Brewing Company is one of the local breweries I visit regularly.  They produce a number of nice house brews and periodically come up with something new and interesting like this Empire Strikes Bock.

Star Wars fans will recognize this as a reference to the movie "The Empire Strikes Back" and the beer's deep dark color would certainly bring Darth Vader's iconic mask and costume to mind.  The beige head lasts a while and leaves behind rings of lacing on the glass.

The aroma is malty, with coffee, chocolate, and hops all playing into it.

The flavor mimics the aroma, starting out malty and mildly hoppy, and finishing with some coffee-like bitterness.  The beer's 9% alcohol content is well hidden, and it would be easy enough to drink a few of these.

I'm rating the beer an 8 out of 10. I couldn't find any ratings on Beer Advocate or RateBeer for this one, so you'll just have to trust me that it's a really nice dark bock beer.

As you can probably guess from the photo, shot on the patio at Zauber's taproom, this was a limited edition beer I had during the warmer months of 2015.  Since it was a good one, I suspect that the good folks at Zauber will bring it back at some point.  Check their web site, or better yet, visit their taproom yourself to find out.