Granit Bock
 

Review Date 11/15/2025 By John Staradumsky

  Style: Steinbier   Brewery: Hoftsetten   Country: Austria   State: N/A   $ Per OZ: $.41 (B)   ABV: 7.3%

Ah, steinbier. Cannot say that I have had a lot of those. Not for lack of trying, mind you, there just are not a lot of them out there. The classic example is Rauchenfels Steinbier, though I do not think that is made anymore. You can see how it is made in Michael Jackson’s Beer Hunter episode titled The Fifth Element. It is quite a laborious process indeed, likely explaining why you don’t see many Steinbiers made these days.

Don’t tell that to the Hofstetter brewery of St. Martin, Austria. They brew steinbier to this day, and with granite. So, when I saw Hofstettner Granitbock for sale at Betty’s Country Store in Helen, Georgia, I had to have a bottle. The beer is imported by B. United, famous for quality imports, and these bottles are a special release, with a sticker on each proudly proclaiming “Bottled in 2010”. That seemed curious as the brewery website gives this beer a 3-year shelf life, but we would find out, wouldn’t we?

Hofstetten says:

Hofstetten’s Granitbier (granite beer) has been a household name in the region for years. When we decided we wanted to continue building on the “Granite” theme in 2008, the logical next step was to make it stronger! Hence, our GRANITBOCK.

The beauty was that we already had everything we needed in our brewhouse from 1929. Primary fermentation takes place in 120-year-old granite vats, thus connecting this beer to its Stone Age roots.

The Granitbock’s unmistakable flavor comes from granite stones that are heated over an open fire until red hot and then thrown into the beer, caramelizing the sugar in the wort. Once it cools, our classically cultured yeast is then added to the vats.

​You can see a video on the making of Granitbock at the Hofstetten page for this beer by clicking here.

Hofstettner Granitbock has an alcohol content of 7.3% by volume and I paid $6.99 for my half liter bottle at Betty’s. Not bad for a beer aged 15 years for you. My bottle says it was both brewed and bottled in 2010.

Hofstettner Granitbock pours to a murky dark chocolate color with a medium sized head of creamy foam and a nose of dark fruity raisin and prune. Taking a sip, the beer is medium in body with a of chocolate and dark fruity raisin, prune and fig. I get a hint of dark candy sugar from the caramelized rocks, and a hint of soy sauce that with the dark fruits reminds me of Samuel Adams Triple Bock though it's nowhere near as strong. It’s nutty too, and becomes less fruity and more chocolaty as it warms. Finishes warm with alcohol and gently bitter.

This was a tasty treat indeed and if you see it, you really should pick at least a bottle up. I know am on a mission to find this unaged for comparison purposes. I will be back to tell you about that later.