Noel:  Every now and then, you experience one of the greatest rewards life has to offer: finding something extra special, extra cheap. I suppose that was my thinking when I grabbed a Dundee Craft Pack a little while back. At $7.99 for a 12 bottle/6 style box, and with the next closest craft brewery variety pack coming in at just about double that, I wasn’t just being miserly…I was hoping for a diamond in the rough. The first one I cracked was an Original Honey Brown Lager, and for a 66.5833 cent (repeating, of course) bottle of beer, I’d say it definitely deserves consideration in that category. Check out DJ’s review for more info.

Most other times, though…you get what you pay for.

Pale Bock Lager, the “Big & Malty” of the Dundee family siblings, is brewed as a traditional German Maibock and pours a medium straw color, not unlike the Honey Brown. Mine had a foamy two finger head that faded quickly and even a trace of honey in the nose, but the similarities ended there.

Now I’ve always been a fan of bocks; leave it to the Germans to take lagers to new heights (and depths) of flavor. And technically…Pale Bock Lager checks off most of the right boxes. Its medium carbonation and pleasant crispness make for a lighter, more drinkable beer, staying true to lager form. And the buttery, toasty malts are really all you taste as the hops take a back seat, true to the Maibock style. The aftertaste even has somewhat of a tang to it…not unlike the “sour” in sourdough bread (although it’s a little too lemony instead of bready in my book). Not at all an unpleasant experience.

My issue with this beer lies in the fact that it doesn’t check any of the boxes with particular flair or personality. The elements are all there, but they’re so forgettable, so blah, that you begin to wonder why you’re still drinking it. Pale Bock Lager isn’t bad, but since it isn’t great either, what you’re left with is a glass full of the gloriously average…12 ounces of sheer tolerability. Something about as memorable as A Flock of Seagulls’ reunion tour and as unique as a cold day in the middle of January.  My recommendation: you can do better.  Grade: C+

Tom:  Revisiting this beer I found it to be less enjoyable than I originally thought.  While it did possess a pale golden hue capped by an off white head, the flavor was too close to their Kolsch.  The smell was slightly maltier lending some caramel and bready lager yeast notes.  The hops were probably the best part about this beer and for the style (I classify this as a Maibock) they should be more present.  After all, it is the hoppiest beer in the bock family.  Taking a few sips I got a pleasant flavor of rich malts and grassy herbal hops.  The finish was dry creating the desire for your palate to have more of the malts relieve your palate.  Towards the end it did grow on me a little bit as I appreciated the hop quality, but unfortunately that was about it.  The biscuit flavor probably added to the the dryness.  I felt the quality was a little week and vaguely reminded me of Little Kings Cream Ale.  Drink this sucker quick and on the cold side.  Grade: C