Looking for my next beer to review I stood in front of the cooler at my local supermarket wanting something screaming Texas. That had to be a bock. The bock style is famous in the United States from the Shiner Brewery and Shiner Bock. This is the style of beer most associated with Texas. I picked up a six-pack of Billy Jenkins Bock.

The Pour

I poured Billy Jenkins Bock into a pint glass from a 12oz can.  The beer is a clear dark reddish-brown with almost no head.  There was a small amount of lacing on the sides of the glass,  This disappeared very quickly.  On the nose, you get a faint aroma of malts and caramel.    

The Taste

Billy Jenkins Bock is full of sweet spice,  brown sugar, nuts, wheat bread, and caramel. This is a balanced beer even with all of the sweet elements.

Brewers Description of Billy Jenkins Bock

“Billy Jenkins Bock was the first beer we ever brewed on the former 15-gallon pilot system we employed to design the beers we would ultimately sell. It is an exceptionally quaffable beer, lower in alcohol, cold-lagered 4 weeks in the German bock tradition, yet less malt-forward and less sweet than a traditional German bock. The name Billy Jenkins is derived from the namesake of Fort Worth, TX, General William Jenkins Worth. He is perhaps the most famous American you have not heard of. He is buried under a 52-foot obelisk in the shadow of the famed Flatiron Building in New York City. We aim to give him the fame he deserves in our City which bears his name.”

The Brewery

Hell’s Half Acre earned infamy in the late19th Century.  It set  Fort Worth up as a center for revelry and debauchery amongst the travelers’ gamblers, and traders that helped build the economy in the post Civil War West.  Wild Acre Brewing Company toasts the famous stretch of land and the legends that built its reputation with a devotion to brewing the highest quality American craft beer.

Opinion of Billy Jenkins Bock

Wild Acre Brewing Company produces some unique beers, luckily this is not one of them.  The is a great Bock.  Certainly a big step up from Shiner Bock (which has a slightly lower alcohol content), and it mimics Shiner’s lightness and drinkability. Pair this beer with grilled meat and the hardier foods of fall. Billy Jenkins is not a heavy beer, but it may be too heavy for a 100-degree day in the Texas Summer.

By the Numbers

ABV 5.2

IBU 15

Read about another beer from Wild Acre Brewing