Vaguely defined maibock lacks focus. Desultory pale-caramel malting and muddled summery fruitiness seem lost amidst honey grained murk. Listless apple, grape, fig and plum illusions never come to the fore while mild nuttiness proves insufficient.

Ill-defined dunkel bock tastes like cheap sharp cider. Tart green apple, sour lemon and oaken cherry provide mouth pucker as stylish fig-date conflux takes a backseat to oncoming green grape esters. Murky toasted nut influence and unwanted veggie snip further confound things.

Brazenly musky German-styled bock (bottled by Wisconsin’s Stevens Point Brewery) seems somewhat reminiscent of England’s once-dominant Watney’s Red Barrel with its sludge-watered mineral graining and dewy earthen moss complementing sweetly creamed chocolate malting. Tea-like residue at back end picks up wheat whiskey snip. Recessive black cherry, raisin and grape nuances waver below. An excellent strong lager that’s easy on the palate despite its perfectly ‘skanky’ and dirty overall appeal.

On tap at Coalhouse Pizza, refreshing clean-watered minerality sets up bronze-hazed pale-malted spring bock. Resinous spelt-hopped politeness allows dainty banana, tangerine and dried fig fruiting to come aboard. Minor alcohol burn at murky tannic grape finish picks up dank mildewed wellwater musk.

Copacetic malty dessert treat contrasts buttery caramelized molasses sweetness against coarse mocha fruited dryness. Brown-sugared fig spicing, prune-stewed raisin pureeing and almond-toasted coconut oiling saturate busy brown chocolate midst. Tertiary red grape, brown pear, apple strudel and bruised banana illusions tempt backend brandy-soaked whiskey boozing.

On tap at Mews, commendable hybridized weizenbock with ‘freshly mown grassy hops’ brings exotic citrus souring to creamy crystal malting. Tart lemon-seeded orange rind bittering reaches buttery vanilla-sweetened banana-clove midst. Floral highlights decorate ancillary white-peppered gooseberry, blueberry, green grape and white pear illusions as well as tropical pineapple, mango, passion fruit, cantaloupe, melon and nectarine effervescence. Uniquely complex and daintily peculiar moderate body will appease white wine dabblers.

Uniquely sweet wheat bock (a.k.a. German-styled weizenbock) contrasts the usual dank bittering of Heineken’s best known international fare. Sugary honeyed molasses creaminess sets the tone above mildly sweet barley-roasted chocolate malting and sweetly soured red cherry tartness. Toffee, maple, hazelnut, banana and fig crowd brown-sugared rum spicing before medicinal alcohol-burnt cough medicine aftertaste takes hold. A sweet dessert treat.

Thin German holiday lager lacks enthusiastic Yuletide punch and expectant seasonal spicing of wintry bock. Sedate dark-roasted coffee coats even subtler chocolate-cocoa-molasses triage. Unripe fig-date souring, lightest rye toasting and latent tobacco nip provide mildly soft-toned Extra Special Bitter profile.

Affirmative medium-bodied winter seasonal bock brings honeyed yellow-fruited nature and caramel-crystal malting to casual herbaceous whim. Vanilla-sweetened banana-clove entry receives uppity lemon tartness and white-peppered menthol-eucalyptus-ginger freshness. Dry banana leaf illusion, musty barnyard grassing, and strangely irrelevant compost waft affect sugared fig-date recess and tertiary orange-apple-pear-pineapple fruiting. Here’s to another well-defined, interestingly enjoyable Ayinger brew.

 Chewy chocolate-covered raisin entry levels off to thin brown-sugared chocolate-spiced caramel malting. Prune-dried black cherry puree souring ascends above mild cinnamon-nutmeg-pinched grape nut bottom. A little watery by mocha finish, where dried fruiting rapidly dissipates.

Passable ’09-brewed American-styled bock relegates bittersweet chocolate-cocoa malting and coarse hop-roasted char to phenol metallic deficiency. Latent brown-sugared dusting lost amongst fizzy carbolic implosion. Buttery diacetyl notion compromises mocha-chalked dried fruiting.

Decent 2009 cellar-reserved bottle-conditioned ‘strong wheat beer’ with pleasant citric acidity and surprising mocha tenacity bides time as loud 8% alcohol luster gets heard. Creamy caramel-cocoa-chocolate malts ride above peppery clove-spiced fig-sugared vanilla sweetness and orange-bruised banana tartness. Molasses-like Sugar Daddy keepsake forges doppelbock-like character over musty yeast-creased candi-sugared Belgian ale peculiarity.