ON THE HOP

Urbock, Namibia Breweries Ltd

God. It’s autumn already, isn’t it? Here, the portents of miserable times: the bringing out of blankets and K-Way fleeces; the relocation of old slippers to the foot of the bed; the beginnings of the flabby tire that will hang around your stomach for the next five months.

It’s not all bad news, though. Autumn means it’s time to start drinking dark beers again, and that can only be good. Porters, stouts, rauchs — all too heavy to enjoy in the salty summer heat, but perfect for keeping the chill out.

The best autumnal beers tend to be seasonal — that is, they’re only produced during this time of year. Namibia Breweries, for example, brings out their fantastic Urbock in limited quantities round about now.

As you might deduce from its name, Urbock is a bock, which is, generally speaking, a relatively strong and dark style of German lager. There are all kinds of bock, however — some are made with ale yeast (like weizenbock), some are super-strong for Lent (like doppelbock), and some are lighter for the European spring (like Maibock).

Urbock is classic, however, seemingly named after a famous brand from Einbeck, the town where bock originated. Like all NBL beers, Urbock is brewed in line with the Reinheitsgebot, or the German beer purity law, meaning it’s made solely with water, malt and hops. (And yeast too, obviously, but they didn’t know too much about yeast when the Reinheitsgebot was first tabled in the 15th century.)

Urbock pours a crystalline chestnut colour with a light tan head, giving off a hop-spicy, dried-fruity, molassesesque aroma. Suitably, its flavour is toffee- and malt-heavy, predominantly sweet and bready, and finishes with a clean and warming alcoholic twang.

While it’s slick and easy-drinking, there’s also a quaintly unrefined quality about the Urbock, which might make you forget you’re drinking a beer made by a macrobrewery. Either way, it’s delightfully simple, delicious, and bone-thawing.