After a long dark journey to Uranus, which in the end was about as pleasant as it sounds, we suited up for a much closer destination, Mars. JT, in his pre-dry February days, had already signed up for a mission to Mars with some Space Rations. But you don’t have to pull a Major Tom to visit Mars. There are actually 35 cities named Mars in the world. And it appears Russia is winning the space race with 13 of them, the US only has 2.
But if you want to do Mars on 5$ a day, this is the way to go. A dunkles bock! We’ve rocked the bock, and drunk some dunkles, but the combo didn’t ring a bell. *
Enter the COMDB translation department who made quick work out of this one. Dunkels Bock means dark goat? That can’t be right. Or it could mean dark desire. That’s possible. Or maybe, just maybe a dark glass of beer? But the team also did a bonus translation for us. The name of our space themed brewer Paniza, means corn, or corncob or popcorn in Spanish. Our translation department was just full of translations today.
Paniza also happens to be a municipality in Aragon, Spain. According to the last census it had 729 more human habitants than the planet Mars. However, did you know that Mars Pennsylvania has exactly twice as many inhabitants as Paniza Spain. Coincidence? Perhaps. Another conspiracy theory? Possibly. Who’s asking and why are you so interested?
Mars Pennsylvania. The name confused the space travellers who landed there. They had set their GPS for “home”.
Time to dunkle this bock into my glass. And as the name would suggest, a dark, some would say foreboding pour. Not as dark as space but plenty dark enough for me. A creamy head implying what is ahead. A strong malt nose. It smells not just malt but malty. The taste is malty creamy bread with a bit of a coffee like finish, a great sequence. Big flavour, the malt has touch of vanilla or cocoa lager sweet. I like it. A full creamy mouthfeel. Smooth but lots of flavour and a bit of a kick to this old goat (the beer, not me). The dunkel funk and bock rock combine for an enjoyable playlist on our journey to Mars.
We heard from the Brewery about the origin of their name. We received a note from the founder, Marcello Paniza.