Holsten Maibock

Brewed by Holsten-Brauerei (Carlsberg)
Style: Heller Bock
Hamburg, Germany

Pale, white, sodapop like head. Beer itself is a nice golden color, very clear. Aroma is somewhat pleasant, but smells strongly of alcohol. Taste starts off nice, mildly hoppy, but the alcohol comes through and ruins it.

500 mL can. Pours a golden orange with a huge frothy white head that bubbles away slowly. Aroma is rich in malts, but smells of grain alcohol. Taste is extremely full bodied, and the alcohol is not masked at all. Hoppy bitterness mixes with the bitter taste of alcohol, and there’s nothing there to make it worthwile.

500ml can poured into a pint glass. Average Lager appearance. Golden color with a 1/2" head that was quickly gone. Aroma is a mild mix of malts and hops, and some alcohol. Tastes a little sweet up front but then it’s mostly hop & alcohol bitterness. Average mouthfeel. The alcohol is not well masked. Looks & smells ok but once it’s in my mouth it loses some of its appeal. One is enough. It’s OK but not as good as some of Holsten’s other beers.

A difficult beer to review; not sure if I liked it or not. Colour as poured (from the can) was a nice gold with lots of carbonation and a medium-to-small white head that didn’t last very long. Aroma was mostly hop over malt, not bad at all. Taste was similar although I found the aftertaste too sharp for my liking.

Good gold/amber color, thick white head that says hello, then quickly goes away. Spotty lacing. Nose is sweet and malty, with a touch of hop character. Grainy/corny, slightly metallic, a hint of toffee/raisin. Palate is big and full, sweet, metallic, some noble hop character. Gets more and more metallic as it warms. Meh

Deep golden colour. Tall white head, no retention.aroma is sweet and malty with a hint of hops. The flavour is full and very malty, slightly bitter and alcoholic. A little dull bet for the price it is quite good.

Never reviewed a Maibock before I’ve drank plenty but this the first review. Beer looked bronzy gold and very clear tons of carbonation is bubbling up from the bottom, a quarter inch crown was produced and is lasting a reasonable amount of time, this beer looks to light colored but I’ll check my manual, oh after checking this is what it is suppose to look like so I guess it’s all good then. Aroma has lots of metallic hops and is very sweet, apple and some standard sour German malts are coming through as well. The flavor starts out bitter but finishes appley sweet, malts are smooth and rich tasting with a slight burnt quality. Beer feels nice and smooth, medium bodied and has good carbonation. The flavor has a very clean finish with zero after taste. This is drinkable better than most German beers I sample, I can see myself drinking this again however I wouldn’t buy it ever again.

I guess the main impression that they are trying to relay to you on the can is the fact that the 7.0% is very very noticable. Aim for that upperclass underpass consumer. Appearance is ok in colour, but it’s missing the nice long lasting white head. Almost no head and only had lacing during the middle of the beer. Light weak amber in colour. Still bubbling. Aroma is mostly dry lightly roasted malts which are in good quantity - the alcohol stink has almost disapeared now that it’s warm and almost consumed. I chose to drink this really warm cause drinking it cold really would’ve sucked. So my review is done with a warm beer. My beer is also warm cause I just spent half an hour on Brew Tycoon. Shit, this stuff has went straight to my head. Taste is quite strong with alcohol and noticable spiced hops (pepper feel). The rest is all malts, lots of them, but nothing particularily tantilizing. Still the alcohol is overabundant. Mouthfeel is not bad, quite carbonated earlier which was good, some spice and bitterness in the finish. Still more alcohol. I’m going to chase this with a pint of Grey Goose. No, check that. I’m going to chase this with 2 bottles of St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout...YEA! ..and I’m listening to Motorhead’s Ace of Spades on permanent repeat! Break a neck!