More than any other beer, Sam Adams Triple Bock is a beer to age and await with patience, rather than fanfare. In its youth, it is clearly unsure of
how to manage its own considerable strength. The critical rhapsodies that are already in print must be attributed to writers whose palates are
sensitive to the point of prophecy.

Neither a bock nor a tripel, Sam Adams Triple Bock is its own beer style, related to barley wine but taken elsewhere with maple syrup in the brew
kettle, champagne yeast for fermentation, and long maturation in charred oak whiskey barrels. Totally uncarbonated and dauntingly full-bodied, Triple Bock has no head and pours like a cream sherry. The color is a deep, tea brown, with a faint tinge of russet when the glass is tilted.

In creating Triple Bock, Sam Adam's founder Jim Koch said he wanted a beer that "would do away with all preconceptions of the taste and flavors that can be found in beer." Appropriately, these samples showed no discernible malt or hop flavor.

I tasted the 1994, 1995 and 1997 vintages. (There was no '96, as the batch destined to fill this slot was aged longer, for 13 months, and issued in 1997.) It is best to begin with the 1995, because the other vintages are markedly better at this time. The '95 is all fruit (and the primary fruit is the
prune). It is at once astringent and cloying, with a finish that is strongly alcoholic and faintly sour. In the middle reaches, one also tastes a subtle
bitterness of burnt walnuts or acorns, and a faint interplay of caramel.

But what a difference a year makes. In the 1994, the elements are learning to take a bow and then step back. The fruit aromas have broadened and
lightened, the flavor has mellowed, the sweetness has thinned, and harshness has softened. It's still imposing, but growing more polite. Another year and it could be positively engaging.

The 1997 overcame the drawbacks of the '95 through 13 months of aging in the wood. A pleasant oak aroma, very similar to that you'd find in a dry white wine, comes right off the glass at first sniff, and sustains itself in an agreeable dryness throughout, balancing the monumental sweetness of malt, maple and alcohol that is the foundation of Triple Bock. With this sweet/dry balance already present, the 1997 should age beautifully, if allowed.

This article was written for the January 1998 issue of All About Beer magazine. Triple Bock was one of several beers tasted by a number of writers for a piece called "Vintage Beers."