Schokolade Bock, the winter seasonal from Amana, Iowa’s, Millstream Brewing Co. is a rich, flavorful brew that does Iowa’s first microbrewery proud.

Schokolade (German for chocolate) Bock pours a deep honey brown color with a tall and fluffy tan head. Its initial aroma is of sweet, roast malt with notes of coffee, chocolate and noble hops.

The lager’s initial flavor is rich malt with just a touch of sweetness and a moderate amount of roast. At mid tongue, the malt flavors take a turn toward dark fruit with notes of light fig and black cherry. Sweetness at mid tongue is very subdued.

Malt flavors are rich, but very well balanced with some subtle and true-to-style noble hop bitterness.

Those dark fruit malt flavors linger into the back of the throat, where the beer’s roastiness seems to ramp up and flavors move towards light coffee and dark cocoa.

Schokolade Bock’s finish is long and keys on roasty malt with flavors of light cocoa dominating. Complimentary notes of hop bitterness leave a pleasant taste in the mouth.

The beer is medium bodied and medium flavored and was purchased at Miller Liquor in North Sioux City, SD.

Schokolade Bock is listed at 5.2% alcohol by volume and is a welcome addition to the winter beer celler. It is recommended.

-Tim Hynds

In yesterday’s hubbub over the landing of eight new beers at Miller Liquor, I overlooked another new arrival at the North Sioux City, SD, store: Goose Island’s 2009 Christmas Ale.

As always, Sioux Brew encourages you to support all local retailers who are making an effort to stock quality beers.

-Tim Hynds

Treblehook barley Wine is a fine, flavorful offering from Woodinville, Washington’s Redhook Ale Brewery. The beer starts and ends on a slightly sweet biscuit malt note. In between, the beer shows rich and flavorful malt flavors.

Treblehook pours a honey brown with a tall tan head. Its aroma is of toffee malt with distinct citrus hop notes of orange and grapefruit.

This barley wine has an initial flavor of slightly sweet biscuit malt on the tip of the tongue that immediately segues to a moderately intense malt flavor at mid tongue. At mid tongue, the malt is rich – showing dark fruit flavors of fig and light raisin -  but not really sweet.

Although the malt flavors are deep, they are buoyed by nice citrus hop flavors that keep the malt from tasting murky.

At the back of the throat the hop flavors amp up, turn rather intense and piney.

Treblehook’s finish is of medium length and keys on residual biscuit malt flavors and piney hops. It is in the finish this barley wine’s 10.1% alcohol by volume shows as a soothing warmth.

Trebelhook is recommended as well done, flavorful barley wine that gives almost equal weight to both malt and hops. It is listed at 52 IBU and I consider it full flavored and full bodied.

Treblehook was purchased at Miller Liquor in North Sioux City, SD.

-Tim Hynds

They just keep coming……

New TODAY at Miller Liquor in North Sioux City, SD are:

From Ridgeway in England: Lump of Coal, Warm Welcome Nut Browned Ale, Santa’s Butt, Very Bad Elf and Criminally Bad Elf.

From Flat Earth Brewing Co. in St Paul: bombers of Angry Planet and of Element 115.

From Millstream Brewing Co. in Amana, Iowa: Schololade Bock.

As always, Sioux Brew encourages you to support all local retailers who are making an effort to stock quality beers.

-Tim Hynds

It’s winter warmer week in Siouxland.

New at Miller Liquor in North Sioux City, SD is Summit Brewing Company’s Winter Ale.

New at the South Sioux City, Nebr., HyVee Wine and Spirits is Great Divide Brewing Company’s Oak Aged Yeti imperial stout and from Brouwerji St. Bernardus comes their St. Bernardus Christmas Ale.

As always, Sioux Brew encourages you to support all local retallers who are making an effort to stock quality beers.

-Tim Hynds

Brothers’ Reserve Cherry Oak Doppelbock is a very highly recommended doppel, whose oak and cherry essences are so well integrated into the beer that I wonder why all doppels aren’t this flavorful.

With this beer, Widmer Brothers Brewing Company of Portland, Oregon, has achieved a wonderful balance of malt, oak and cherry. No one flavor overshadows the other and all contribute to a smooth, satisfying beer.

Cherry Oak Doppelbock pours a dark honey-brown with a quick-to-fall tan head. The beer’s aroma is of toffee malt with undertones of cherry and minor notes of oak.

This doppel’s initial flavor is of sweet caramel and toffee malts that show an incredible depth of malt flavor that gains in intensity and richness at mid-tongue.

At mid-tongue, some small but very complimentary notes of oak flavor join in. The oak is so well integrated that you really have to search your taste buds for it, for this is no oak bomb.

However, the star at mid-tongue is the beer’s cherry flavors. However, as with the oak, these flavors are subtle but oh-so-important to the complexity of the beer.

Some dark chocolate malt flavors appear at the back of the throat as well as some piney hop flavors that serve to help balance the beer’s malt.

At 9% alcohol by volume, this doppel has a pleasant alcohol warmth that shows in the beer’s finish. That finish is long and is dominated by deep, flavorful malt accentuated by oak and some light cherry notes.

Summing up this beer’s flavor profile is pretty easy. Sweet-ish malt throughout, cherry forward at mid-tongue and oak forward at the back of the throat. However, be reminded that all flavors integrate wonderfully.

My only criticism of the beer is a very slight metallic note that shows deep in the back of throat.

Brothers’ Reserve Cherry Oak Doppelbock is very highly recommended and was purchased at Miller Liquor in North Sioux City, SD.

-Tim Hynds

Some interesting new beers have landed at Miller Liquor in North Sioux City, SD:

Treblehook, a limited-release barley wine from Redhook Ale Brewery in Woodinville, Washington is now in stock.

Also in is Widmer Brothers Brewing Co.’s Cherry Oak Doppelbock, This beer is the the Portland, Ore., brewery’s “limited release #1.”

As always, Sioux Brew encourages you to support all local retailers who are making an effort to stock quality beers.

-Tim Hynds

The 2009 edition of Snowstorm, August Schell Brewing Co’s. winter seasonal, is in now in stock at Miller Liquor in North Sioux City, SD.

Snowstorm is brewed as a different style beer each year and the 2009 version is a Baltic porter.

As always, Sioux Brew encourages you to support all local retailers who are making an effort to stock quality beers.

-Tim Hynds

News today to make both malt fans and hopheads happy:

New at the South Sioux City HyVee Wine and Spirits is Left Hand Brewing Co’s. Warrior IPA. Brewed with fresh hops, it is available in 22 oz bombers.

The 2009 vintage of Goose Island Beer Co’s Bourbon County Brand Stout is now in stock at Miller Liquor in North Sioux City, SD. Available in 4-packs (but also being sold at Miller’s as singles), the beer is sporting a new style label.

As always, Sioux Brew encourages you to support all local retailers who are making an effort to stock quality beers.

-Tim Hynds

After about a 10-year absence from the Sioux City market, beers from Amana, Iowa’s, Millstream Brewing Co. will become available in the metro tomorrow.

Miller Liquor in North Sioux City, SD, is scheduled to receive delivery of  Millstream’s Oktoberfest, Schild Brau and Hefe ‘R’ Weissen – as well as sampler packs – on Friday afternoon.

With the delivery, Siouxlanders will have access to beers from two of Iowa’s three packaging breweries. Hub City, from Stanley, Iowa, has had its beers available locally for about a year. Ames’ Olde Main Brewing Co. has yet to enter the Sioux City market.

Miller will also be taking delivery on the Minnesota/South Dakota versions of Brau Brothers Brewing Co’s Scotch Ale, Sheephead Ale, Ring Neck Braun and sampler packs.

As always, Sioux Brew encourages you to support all local retailers who are making an effort to stock quality beers.

-Tim Hynds