AW: [HBF] Bock questions

[Matthias Kloppmann]

Here's another one

The Einbecker brewery claim to have brewed the first genuine Bockbier which
they also sold to southern Germany where the Bavarian king or some other
highly ranked person was very fond of it. These beers date back to some time
in the 1600s (I believe). The brewery states that the name Bock derived
directly from the name of its home town Einbeck. Due to some weird sound
shifts via Einpoeker, Ein Poek and finally ein Bock the name Bockbier
developed. Thus, the brewery calles its beers Urbock (Ur = original). The
sell a dark and pale variety of it as well as a Mai-Urbock which is sold
only in the spring. The other stuff you can get all year round. You can read
the story on the homepage of that brewery. However, the story is also
subject to some debate - like most histories of the several beer types.

With reference to whether the dark or pale type of Bockbeer is the original
I would opt for the dark variety. This is because pale malts became only
available in significant quantities at the turn of the 18th/19th century
when subsequently pale beer became popular all over the world.

Best wishes

Matthias Kloppmann