Bock Beers on Draft

Bock bier is the ​rich, complex, malty, low-hop style of lager that we celebrate every year at Bockfest. We are excited to offer over twenty-four different bock beers this year at Bockfest Hall.
Offered all weekend long are:

​Sonder William Goat
Northern Row Cooper Hellerbock

Bock Beer Experience

Saturday March 4, 12P-6P
Over twenty-four bock beers from local breweries will be available as part of the Bock Beer Experience on Saturday. Tickets for the Saturday event are $45 and include 4oz samples of every bock beer on draft at Bockfest plus a Bockfest pint glass. (Limited amounts of these bocks will also be available by the pint on Friday night, and any remaining beer left after the Experience will be available by the pint the remainder of the weekend)
Participating breweries and beers include:

13 Below Fluss Bock
Alexandria Brewing Co Slayerator Dopplebock
Big Ash Goat Rope
Bock Family Brewery DeBockery Dopplebock
Braxton Ignitor Maibock
Cartridge Brigade
Deadlow Double Down
Fifty West Maibock
Fretboard Reverberator Doppelbock
HighGrain Ibex Weizen Bock​
Listermann Friar Bacon Smoked Bock
MadTree Guten Bock
Moerlein Lager House Bockfest Brewers Champion Beer (winner of the 2022 Bloatarian Bockfest Home-brew Competition)
MPH Summit-ator Doppelbock
Narrow Path Pathinator Doppelbock
Nine Giant Hairpin Turns Golden Bock
Northern Row Cooper Hellerbock
Paradise Billy Baroo Dopppelbock
Samuel Adams Cincinnati Taproom Cinnamon Roll Breakfast Bock
Sonder Nocturnal Schwartzbier
Sonder William Goat Bockbier
Taft's Big Billy Goat Helles Bock
Third Eye Total Debockery Doppelbock
West Side Brewing West Side Bock
Wooden Cask BA Dopple Bock

Other beverage options

Cocktails​
A limited bar including Buckeye Vodka is available in select locations at Bockfest Hall.
Wine
White and Red wine from Biltmore are available in select locations at Bockfest Hall.
Hard Seltzer
Vodka Soda from Sway is available in select locations at Bockfest Hall.
 
Bloody Mary Bar
On Sunday, the Bock Bloody Mary bar will be open to rejuvenate your spirts. Homemade Bloody Mary Mix and build your own ingredients make this a winner.
Soda & Water
Water and soda are available throughout Bockfest Hall.

What is Bock Beer?

Bock beer is a rich, complex, malty, low-hop style of lager. There are many varieties of bock that can be very different. Understanding the basic styles is a start to understanding what you may like best. Maibock (pronounced my-bock) or Helles (pronounced hell-ess) are paler, and a little more hoppy. Maibocks are traditionally brewed later in spring, but there is typically a good representation or two of this style at some of the Bockfest venues. Doppelbock is maltier, stronger, and typically darker in color. Eisbock is stronger than Doppelbocks and can have a pronounced alcohol taste. Although there are degrees of strength and color, no bock is light. Different Maibocks and Doppelbocks can range in alcohol content from roughly 6.3% to about 12%. By comparison, mass-brewed light beer is typically 3.5% to 4.5%, so even the lightest bocks should be handled with care. Some Eisbocks can have an alcohol content as high as 43%. We want you to remember Bockfest, and the higher alcohol content is often unapparent in a well-brewed Doppelbock. It can be helpful to ask the bartender about the strength of what you're drinking if you want to avoid falling off your stool after two beers.
 
Bock typically has a higher nutritional content and alcohol content than other beers. It is traditionally brewed for celebrations and holidays. Because of the higher nutritional content, bock was used by German monks during Lenten fast - a liquid substitute for food. We celebrate Bockfest on the first weekend of March because of this historic association with Lent.
 
Although it is now almost always a lager, bock was originally an ale that was brewed by German monks in the Fourteenth Century. The word "bock" means goat in German. The beer most likely gets its name from Einbeck, Germany. Einbeck is believed to be the origin of the beer and the name comes from a Bavarian dialectic pronunciation of the town that made it sound like "ein bock," meaning "a billy goat."
 
Although this is the scholarly, accepted origin of the name of the beer, we prefer to believe a more colorful story about the beer's name. According to ancient tale, the name came from a legendary Renaissance-era drinking contest between two beer-brewing monks. The bock beer's high alcohol content is said to have caused the loser of this competition to fall over, which he blamed on an errant goat that had entered the tavern. The winner laughed at his fallen friend and told him that the only goat that knocked him down was in the beer. Regardless of whether this story is true, countless Bockfest attendees can testify to encountering that goat.