Autumn is perhaps the most Dutch beer season there is. Although the origins of bock beer date back to Germany, the Netherlands has turned it into a tradition all its own. From October 1st, special bock beers appear in pubs everywhere. For beer lovers, this is an annual highlight.
A visit to a bock beer festival is therefore a unique Dutch experience: tasting dozens of rich, malty autumn beers, meeting enthusiasts, and enjoying the convivial atmosphere that is so characteristic of the Dutch beer landscape. Are you in the Netherlands during bock beer season? Then you absolutely cannot miss the 44th PINT bock beer festival!
Bock was first imported into the Netherlands in 1843. Initially a winter beer in the Netherlands, bock has been the autumn beer we know today since the 1970s/80s. Beer from the North German town of Einbeck was, in the Middle Ages, a golden-yellow, top-fermented, hoppy, and fairly strong summer beer, brewed from 2/3 barley malt and 1/3 wheat malt.
The Duke of Bavaria had it brewed at his own court starting in 1614. From a summer beer, it became a brown spring beer, bottom-fermented, without wheat malt, and less hoppy. The name was corrupted via ‘ampokhisch’ and ‘ein bock’ to simply ‘bock’.