Erie Brewing Golden Fleece Maibock

Brewed by Erie Brewing Company
Style: Heller Bock
Erie, Pennsylvania USA

Bottle ( 12oz ). Clear amber-tinged gold with an average fizzy off-white head. Slightly sweet aroma, earthy/grassy bitterness, light cereal grain, a hint of green fruit. Taste is somewhat sweet and juicy, peach, orange zest, light alcohol - gets a little bitter in the finish. Slick, somewhat thick body, moderate carbonation, a little dry alcohol in the slightly tart-fruit sorbet finish. Ehh - didn’t mind it.

Enjoyed from a 12oz bottle in a pub glass. The beer pours a light to medium amber color with essentially no head. The nose is nicely malty, showing notes of Munich and Cara-Munich, along with some medium Crystal. The palate is where the beer seems to hit its peak, as it gives a strong malt depth that reminds one of such great Vienna lagers as Eliot Ness. Munich, Aromatic, and Cara-Munich seem to meld together to create a nice symbiotic harmony of flavor. The only detraction is a fairly strong note of C-60 toward the mid-palate to finish. It is not unpleasant, but gives the aroma and flavor of a handful of unmilled grain. The finish is otherwise long and clean. Well done.

The appearance is clear yellow orange. Tons of carbonation. Big, thick shaving cream foam of a head; pure white. The aroma is a terrific dark roasted caramel malt; sweet, not bitter. A pilsnery, flowery citrus hop. Toasted base with a flowery, perfumey second sniff. The taste is sugary malts that are also dark, like a strong ale or a mild barleywine. Really nice bitter flowery hop; grassy. I am really enjoying the dueling banjos of dark (malt) and light (hops). The feel is thick and milky. Smooth with a honey-like consistency. It’s a strong drink at 8.5%! Thick and dark malts, a nice spring-y hop respite. A fine example of style.

Bottle [12oz]. Pours a cloudy copper with lots of sediment and an average size diminishing white head (weird that all of the other reviews I’ve read said it was clear -- oh oh). Slightly odd aroma of bread, peas, sweet malt, slightly sour fruit, honey and yeast. Flavour of sweet malt, honey, dark fruit, bread and alcohol. Medium bodied. A bit too sweet (and odd really), but otherwise an O.K. beer.

Had on-tap at Cole’s. Malty aroma, big soapy head on grapefruit body. Creamy mouthfeel but then cheesy beery basic body underneeth. Some sourish taste. Lace lines.

On tap @ Coles, Buffalo NY. Pours a bright golden orange. Sticky sweet malt aroma, honey. Taste is malty honey sweet, fruity. has a strange Quad like dark fruitiness. too sweet but not too bad

Pours deep clear gold with thin white head. The aroma emits full grainy notes with mild sweet malts and floral hops in the background. The flavor has a grainy level of malts mixing with sweet malts and dark fruity esters. The graininess makes a valiant effort to fight off the onslaught of sugar sweetness coming from both malt and dark fruity esters. In the end it gets too sweet for my taste.