Holsten Maibock

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

An orange beer with no head. The aroma is slightly sweet - rather boring. The flavor is malty sweet and plain boring.

(Can 50 cl) Beautiful, golden beer - not much head though. Very well-balanced between a weak sweetness and a pleasant bitterness. Not a hugely personal beer, but professionally crafted. 250200

I can’t possibly delete such a classic rate (Aug 6, 2003) so I’ll keep it below.

Dull golden-accented bronze colour. Aroma is sweet, like honeyed creamed corn with faint grassiness and somewhat less faint alcohol. Bland, creamy body. In typical malt liquor fashion it uses alcohol rather than the touch of grassy hops to cut through the cloying sweetness. Again lots of creamed corn and really bland bready malts. Could be worse...like my previous two samples of this beer those many years ago. This time out - ice cold mind you - it’s at least palatable though not very good.

The classic August 6, 2003 rate (3-2-1-1-1 = 0.8) Light bronze. Lightly malty nose with caramel and noble hop (not so much of the latter, though). Lots of high alcohols. Palate is absolutely nasty - bizarre esters, chemicals and high alcohols conjur up images of rotten pig duodenums floating in Murmansk harbour. I only resist the urge to vomit because to regurgitate this across the palate again would be akin to heaving into a communal pit toilet at an overcrowded refugee camp in the middle of a girardosis outbreak.

creamy head, disappearing fast. A sweet, bit hoppy aroma. The taste is malty and sweet with a short bitter finish. A good, but not memorable maibock

Orange coloured. This is a quite thin and boring Maibock. Rather sweet and bland.

Bottled: Dark golden coloured. White head that last long. Aroma is sweet, malty and fruity. Malts, loads of alcahol/acidic accents in the flavour. Is light spiced. Heavy alcahol bitterness on the tongue in the end.

From a 500 ml can. Golden colour with a huge head that quickly disappears to nothing. Light floral notes over a decent malty background. Some honey and brown sugar notes. Flavour was surprisingly good, flowery esters and a nice crisp finish. I didn't expect much from this one, but I thought it was pretty good.

Mild malt aroma with some light spicy hops and some bubblegum. Hazy straw coloured body is inappropriate for style with shy white head that diminishes immediately to ring. Some bubblegum flavours, some fruitiness with light peppery hop spiciness in the finish. Rather sweet and a bit sticky. Medium-light body though somewhat still due to very low carbonation. Not very exciting and way out of style. Can (LCBO - Nov. 2004).