The Club enjoys Bucking Bock during the game.

We were glued to the TV that evening. It was still the first quarter, and much to Andrew's dismay, things were already looking poorly for Rice and good for UT. The members of our humble Club were beginning to show up, Doug being the last. This ticked Andrew off, too, on account of Doug being the one who was in charge of bringing beer this time.

"Whatcha got for us?" was how we welcomed a smiling Doug, who had been listening to the game on the radio.

Doug replied, "I run across some of this Rahr Bucking Bock. Any of y'all tried this?"

Keith raised his hand and projected a knowing grin. Since his Texas beer awakening a few months ago, Keith has pretty much tried it all. Andrew and I had not, but we were right anxious to do so. We pulled some bottles out, twisted the caps off, and poured four pint glasses of this Bucking Bock.

"At first I thought it was sort of a take-off on Shiner Bock, but I'm thinking this is a very different sort of beer," said Doug. "Check out the label there. That bad boy has 7.5% alcohol in it!"

I took a sip. Now, it tasted sort of sweet, not unlike Shiner Bock, except that it was an interesting sweetness, like a candy I've never had before. It was delicious and--for such a strong beer--surprisingly smooth. A lot of beers this strong have a kind of bad vodka burn to the flavor, but this Rahr Bucking Bock was good and clean. The aftertaste was a bold, almost salty bitterness that swept the sugar right out of your mouth, leaving you thirsty for more. It's probably sexist of me to think this, but this beer still strikes me as a right manly beer.

Andrew broke the silence. "You know, this is good. The color of the beer is pretty light, and yet it's full of all these interesting malty flavors."

"Yeah," said Doug, "I see where you're coming from. For me, I would normally rather a beer not be quite this bitter, but since it's so strong, the bitterness kind of works."

"Now go slow, guys," Keith warned with a hint of mischief, "because this one will sneak up on you."

We enjoyed glass after glass of this beer for the rest of the evening. Of course, the Longhorns killed the Owls. Luckily, Andrew had some good beer to take comfort in.