Samuel Adams Triple Bock

Triple Bock is complex, elegant, and has the depth and complexity of a fine cognac, vintage port or an old sherry. Non-carbonated, ruby-black, and very special, Triple Bock should be sipped from a small snifter in a two-ounce serving.

This is a beer to savor, and sip slowly. Triple Bock has a brandy-like warmth and a complex melange of fruity, woody, and toffee-like flavors. Let the aroma fill your mouth and nose with rich malt and fruit overtones. Savor and appreciate its enormous character.

Serve Triple Bock as you would a fine sherry, at room temperature, in a small snifter. One bottle generously serves two or three. Recork and store standing up. Once poured into a small glass, the layers of aroma and flavor will continue to evolve as the deep ruby brew warms in the hand. There have been only three vintages produced: 1994, 1995 and 1997, but bottles can still be found in the marketplace. 1994 and 1995 vintages are marked as such on the back label; 1997 vintage is not.

2.8

1054 reviews

Boston, United States

Community reviews

3.3 1995 bottle, filtered to exclude the cork. Dark clear ruby brown color, flat. Aroma of overbaked chocolate brownies. Taste has port wine, tannins. Interesting.

3.0 I’ve always wanted to try this. A friend still has a few bottles, 1995 vintage, he says the taste has changed very little over the years. Fast forward to now. Wow a malt and booze bomb. Smooth, with burn at the end. Way too sweet though with no balancing issue but for the booze. Very dark and flat, intriguing looking. Nose is decent and interesting. Brandy, plums, booze, tea. Actually, this was a bit better than I thought it would be.

2.8 Smells like raisin juice. It’s not thick but muddy. Lots of sediment. Taste is malty raisin. No complexity left, flat. Not bad but a taste is enough.

3.7 Bottle shared by Brad - thanks! Yes, big boozy soy sauce. But very rich and interesting too. I dig it.

3.9 Dark brown cloudy color. Tons of dark chocolate, caramel, prunes, dark cherries, maples in the nose. Very intense and wonderful. Virtually no carbonation, like flat. Intense, maple syrup, cacao, oak, dark fruit notes. Rounded and deceptively drinkable for 17%. This was aged 18 years and finally it is peaking

3.9 Rated from rating notes made over 10 years ago. Pours very dark, no noticeable head. Smells like prunes, sherry, an a bad red wine. Very unlike beer, at least in the traditional sense. More like a sweet port. Thick, sweet and warm with all sorts of flavors coming through: wood, prunes, maple syrup, cognac. It does grow on you, but this one is hard to rate. Felt very much like a liquor.

2.8 Pours thick unclear brownish muddy, but no carbonation at all. Aroma is huge, woody malty resin and some smoke as well. Cognac in aroma and flavor! Body and flavor are gigantic, especially flavor bringing sweet grapey malts, and some smoke and chocolate as well.

3.2 Thank you Dave for sharing this rare keeper. 1995 bottle to glass. Cheers to 20 years. Look is purplish brown, no head, no fizz at all. Aroma is salt, soy sauce, dark fruit; alcohol is prevalent. Taste is plum, syrup, leather, raisin, dark rum. Very complex, this has held up very well. Read lots of mixed reviews and I’m sure some is due to taste, but the aging probably has a lot to do with the quality. Feel is un-beer like, syrupy, like a rum or brandy. This has been an interesting experience.

3.1 1997 bottle. This one has been aging in my wine cellar since 2008. I drank another bottle back around then and according to notes rated it a 3.9. I just cant for the life of me see rating it that high again. The nose is black licorice and soy sauce. The taste is pretty much the same as the nose. Still a sipper that can only be taken in small doses. Luckily I am a fan of sweetened soy sauce. Palate is thick and sticky sweet, this could be used as syrup. Alcohol was well hidden. The occasion for opening this bottle is my moving to Colorado and I just did not want to take it with me. This paired beautifully with some cave aged cheddar cheese.

1.3 Thankfully I didn’t have high expectations here. Certainly didn’t age like a champ. It pours dark brown with no head. It smells like oxidized soy sauce, alcohol, glue and that sticky ant killer stuff. It has a thick cloying body with no carbonation. It starts brutal with soy sauce that’s super sweet and on steroids. It also has dark berries, brown sugar and syrup. The finish has alcohol and sweetness. Its certainly interesting, but never want to touch this again.

3.1 250ml bottle, v1997. Black color with No head. Malty aroma, dark dried fruits, figs, plums, some chocolate, caramel, wood, alcohol. Sweet and bitter taste like aroma with soy sauce. Medium to full sticky body with flat carbonation.

2.5 Mega alcohol smell. Malty taste with nuts and raisins. Full body, low carbonation, and no foam. Has an alcohol taste and burn.

3.8 25cl blue bottle shared at The Cad’s 10yr anniversary celebrations in CBC Clerkenwell, London. Massive thanks to Ang for this rare piece of brewing history. It pours a dark brown colour with no head to speak of. Aroma is swete and vinegarish, with notes of oxidised caramel, tannins, oak, vermouth, sweet red wine and sugar. Taste is a similar mix of sweet and tart notes, with a bunch more oxidation, caramel, sweet wine, molasses. Medium to full bodied with soft carbonation. Overall, novel

2.0 Bottle share at the Cad’s 10 year tasting. Thanks! This is an old beer. Black with a red hue, no head at all. Aroma is meaty, bovril, really sweet molasses. Classic aged beer with plenty of oxidation. Body is medium to full, no carbonation, smooth. Taste is really sweet, boozey, brick dust, masonry, salty, meaty, a little dry. Not the sort of thing I’d generally go for, but very glad to try it.

4.0 Bottle at Toms 10 yr anniversary. Just huge thanks to Ang Reakt. Like a dry oloroso sherry. Soy sauce salt. Just stunning. Meaty bovril. Lovely. Amazing.

3.7 Lets go to the Jockey Box what next? 1995 Steven Adam Triple Box, shared by friend, not in dining room, for make the taste! Pours black with a good head and decent lacing on the glass. Pours pitch black and flat. The aroma certainly offers some soy sauce & mushrooms. It’s also got a great toffee thing going on, it’s got some brine, & some chocolate. Honestly this particular bottle has more going for it than not aromatically, it’s easily the best smelling sample of this beer I’ve had. The flavor is well beyond any sample of the beer I’ve ever had as well... considerably so. It’s got port wine & tart fruit. It’s got dark chocolate and Pedro Ximénez Sherry, raisins, cherries and warming booze. Yes it has oxidized character, but in a shockingly mild way for the near Decade that the thing has been in bottle. So much going on here. I’ve had this beer maybe half a dozen times by now, and this bottle stands head & shoulders above the rest. Wow.

1.7 This rating might be slightly unfair. I would highly recommend it if anyone finds this on the shelf somewhere to make sure that it was stored properly. After I tried this and by tried it I mean a couple of ounces, I spent the rest of the evening shooting out at both ends like a lumberjack firework. Aroma was strong molasses but not unpleasant. Color was very dark and the palate very thick although chunky. Flavor was sweet soy sauce and molasses. You have been warned.

3.7 1994 bottle at Big Beers in Vail, CO 2015. I was told these bottles hadn’t left the brewery’s cellar since they were brewed. Pour is slick oily black with a small bit of cork particles floating around. Big caramel, toffee, raisins, some prunes, dates, cognac and a touch of soy in the aroma. Taste is very rich and decadent - roasted caramel notes, brown sugar, molasses, maple and wood notes with some prunes. Somewhat reminds me of Utopias. This seems to have held up well, which is completely opposite to the majority of ratings. Slick syrupy mouthfeel with soft carbonation. Not bad at all.

2.7 1995 Vintage. 250mL bottle, courtesy of fiulijn (thanks Alex), pours an opaque dark amber-brown with no head. Nose is sure thick, with salt and soy sauce upfront, with liqueur and more salt. Flavour is bizarre, with very sour notes, liqueur, and soy sauce – obviously lots of oxidation at this point. What a strange beer. Never had anything like this. Not a total disaster, but it’s not really enjoyable. Cool to try, but not exactly refined.

2.7 Bottle - Vintage 1995 - Salty Skunky, soy sauce and oily dark notes. Inky brown black with no head. Umami, soy sauce and a salty finish. Odd dark weird sweet, salty notes. Not that great.

4.3 December 27, 2014 - bottle purchased at Discount a long time ago. Very black pour with almost no head and just stained the glass. Aroma still had quite a bit of maple, alcohol and dark fruit. Taste was sweet as expected, had some heat and also was fruity. Much more like a port wine than a beer. 1997 vintage.

3.3 (Samuel Adams Triple Bock) Bottle 250 ml at home, corked, vintage 1997, bought at the Delirium Cafe, Belgium. No mention of the ABV on the bottle. Served into a snifter. The corked cut in half, no other solution than throw the other half into the beer. Totally black in colour, pours thick like motor oil. No head or even a bubble formed on the surface. Aroma mostly of alcohol, some wood, molasses. Sweet soy sauce on the taste, very boozy, faint old wood, glue. I don’t find it that bad though. Thick boy, almost totally flat. Very sticky on the palate. I’ll struggle to finish this small glass, basically more because of its alcohol burn, other than that is quite drinkable.

3.7 Bottle split at Bruce’s pad, here’s a glass raised to Reluctant Scoops for getting this one to me, 24/10/14. 1994 Vintage. Extremely dark mahogany brown/light black with tan edgework. Nose is rich dark fruits, sherry, chocolate, plums, light smoke, woody rinse, booze tunes. Taste comprises soy sauce, sherry, rich chocolate streak, more plums, dates, prunes, figs, brown sugar. Full bodied, fine carbonation - slightly viscous, warming alcohol and sweet licks in the close. Solid stuff, looks like we found a bottle that has aged gracefully when you compare our ratings to most others in recent times. Cheers Scoops!

3.8 Bottle thanks to a Mr Boris. Oily viscous caramel brown coloured pour with a short lived light tan head. Aroma is big tangy fruit! Dried berry raisin, caramel . alcohol is noticeable on the nose with vinous dried fruits, booze and earthy choc. Vanilla. Flavour is big smooth! Tart berry, caramel, malty and some liquorice. Has held up to the age very well. Sweet, full bodied and smooth. Bit of Turkish delight. An absolute treat. Very lucky to try this.

4.0 Bottle shared in London - big thanks to Colin for this whale. Vintage 1994 - the original. Pours flat black, oily, with pretty much no head. The nose has some tangy dark fruits, cocoa, tar, figs. Hugely sweet flavor with lots of dark fruits, prunes, figs, dark cherries. Full bodied, oily and chewy with soft carbonation. Warming finish with lots of syrupy fruits, raisins, more figs and dates, some tangy berries. Great stuff. Quite dynamic. Has held up quite well.

3.7 Bottle, 1994 thanks to Colin. It pours murky dark brown with minimal head. The nose is rich, umami, treacle, toffee, soy, oily, fruit cake, dark fruit, vanilla and honey. The taste is smooth, syrupy, oily, treacle, umami, light soy, touch of acidify, cocoa, plum and Chinese duck and plum sauce with a smooth, warming finish. Full body, fine carbonation and oily mouth-feel. Great depth and long finish. Great fun to try.

1.4 "weird...like the most complex, sweet soy sauce you’ll ever have. i enjoyed it as a treat, but it’s too much. not something i’ll go back for often. worth trying if you’ve never had. re-tasted 1/09 - aroma nearly unbearable, nice appearance, but the flavor is just a bit much. english barleywine it is not!"

2.2 Vintage- 1997. Pours a thick oily black with no head. Smells of alcohol, Worcestershire sauce, and molasses. Tastes of syrup and alcohol. Unique, but just too much. Had a hard time finishing a 3 ounce pour.

3.0 The archetypical ’extreme beer’ from the nineties, tasted at seventeen years of age (the beer, that is, not me). No head as expected (and intended), only a couple of beige, small bubbles of air instantly dissappearing entirely; colour a very dark burgundy, like an old port wine, almost black, no fizz. Extremely strong aroma - and by ’extremely’, I mean it was not only noticeable, but even overpowering from a yard away. Smells of soy sauce, fish sauce, old port wine, balsamic vinegar, dried mushrooms, chocolate ’jenever’, oak, brown sugar, vanilla, banana liqueur, peat, liquorice and Worcestershire sauce, as well as something ’animalistic’ not unlike barnyard or - excusez le mot - menure. Complex and dense taste, candied fruit sweetness, very thick and oily mouthfeel (almost chewy), chocolatey malts, candi syrup, lots of soy sauce with a weird - and actually rather unpleasant - saltiness, a taste fortunately rarely encountered in beer; liquorice too, figs, port wine, some wood, finish very long and lasting, sticky, alcoholic but not really astringent, as a very old sherry or madera, lots of retronasal spiciness (thyme, ginger, cloves), citrussy hops, residual sweetness and again that disturbing saltiness. I was a bit horrified to find some solid chunks of protein in the bottom of the bottle which I ingested by accident. Glad I finally tasted this classic, I cannot honestly say I really liked it in all respects, but I can imagine it tasted a lot better in the nineties and I admit I was quite fascinated by it.

2.8 Bottle: 1995 vintage. Bought this at Charles Street Liquors in Boston about 5 or 6 years ago. Surprised to find it on the shelf! Decided to crack it open for my birthday. Super dark chocolate in color, major alcoholic prune aroma. Similar on the tongue, almost like a prune soy sauce with hints of black cherry. Not as bad as I was expecting, but certainly not exceptional. Warming, a bit alcoholic, but for 18% it seemed perhaps a little less alcoholic than others in the same range. Viscous on the tongue, thick, a bit syrupy. Very happy to at least have tried this one. Lingering prune soy sauce notes. Shuddering just a bit....