Golan Brewery launches new Og Double Bock Wheat Beer

The Golan Brewery in Katzrin, one of Israel's most established craft breweries, recently launched a new seasonal beer – Og Double Bock Wheat Beer.

The old blogger with Michael Giladi, Omri
Zilberman and Motti Barr at the launch of
Og Double Bock Wheat Beer.
(Photo:Mike Horton)

According to brewmaster Omri Zilberman, the new beer is a joining of two styles which the Golan Brewery currently makes: Bazelet Wheat and Bazelet Double Bock.  

The result, I believe, is better than the sum of its parts.

The new beer was launched at the Ilka Bar in Tel Aviv, and Golan Brewery Manager Michael Giladi was kind enough to invite me and photographer Mike Horton.  We joined some ten other journalists and bloggers from the online, print and radio world.

The new Og Double Bock
Wheat Beer, surrounded by
the four permanent Bazelet beers.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

Giladi gave us a brief overview of the Golan Brewery: They produce four permanent beers under the Bazelet label (Wheat Ale, Amber Ale, Double Bock lager, and Pilsner lager), as well as seasonal beers under the Og label.  (Og was a king in the ancient Bashan region on the Golan Heights.)      

"Og gives us the chance to get creative," added Motti Barr, the Golan Brewery production manager.  Previous Og beers have included summer ale (Og Keitzit), double bock (Og Alon), and even an earlier version of a double bock wheat in 2012, though with a different recipe from the new beer.  Only 3,000 to 5,000 liters of each version of Og seasonal beer are produced, and when these are sold out, so is the beer.  (Read my earlier post on Golan Brewery beers here.)

The launch of Og Double Bock Wheat Beer
at the Tel Aviv "press conference."
(Photo: Mike Horton)

Brewmaster Zilberman told us that double bocks have traditionally been made for winter drinking.  It is a dark beer, strong in alcohol, with an intense sweet malty taste.  The monks who first brewed it in Germany called it "liquid bread."

"By combining the two styles of wheat and double bock, we have brewed a unique wheat beer which boasts the strength and flavors of a double bock," said Zilberman.  "Alcoholic content is a hefty 8.4%.  Our malt mixture is 70% wheat and 30% barley.  The yeast is typical Bavarian wheat beer yeast."

The first pouring of 
Og Double Bock Wheat Beer.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

After we tasted Bazelet Wheat and Bazelet Double Bock to acquaint us with the two styles joined in the new beer, the journalists were served festive drafts of Og Double Bock Wheat.  Its color is a cloudy honey amber – right between the pale wheat beer and the brown double bock.  The aroma is faintly banana (typical for a wheat beer) and whisky alcohol.  The first thing you taste is the sweet malt and caramel, followed by dark fruits, coffee and chocolate.

Og Double Bock Wheat is truly a delicious strong ale, successfully combining the elements of two very different styles.  It is now arriving at liquor stores which sell Golan beers.  Since we have a few good weeks of winter left, it can still be enjoyed on the cold days for which good double bock beer was intended.