Mahrs Bräu Christmas Bock

Brewed by Mahrs Bräu
Style: Heller Bock
Bamberg, Oberfranken/Bayern, Germany

Bottle. Pours golden yellow with a thick white head. Aroma is pale malt, sweet, etoh, and a yeasty bread. Flaovr is simple caramel malt, and a sweet hoppy finish. eh.

wow this an awesome lager specimen. pours rich copper with a creamy head that you can scoop out with the finger. it is obviously an unfiltered beer with rauchmalt notes. smells of beechwood smoked malt (lightly, not like rauchbier), honey malt and a light wooden cask essence. yummy, finishes with an extra hop note, probably the difference in the christmas bock vs. mahr’s bock.

The nose very malty and full of caramelized sugars. A tad too sweet, tasting of caramel and brown sugared malts. It’s very smooth, that’s for sure, and hardly carbonated so it slides ride down, but not something that I’d want to drink on a daily basis.

Deep clear chestnut. Very fine beige head settles relatively quickly to a thin cap. Nose is rich, deep brown bready malt mixed with spicy German hops. Slight fruitiness to it in the form of some dried cherry and orange zest notes. Just a hint of rumminess, but it adds complexity rather than sticking out inappropriately. Beautiful. Medium-full in the mouth. Just waves of malt, cut sharply by a very welcome, robust hop bitterness. Very long and lingering. Great bock here. Wonderfully low carbonation lets the rich maltiness seep into every nook and cranny of the mouth. It’s really the hops that clean the palate for the next sip, and boy, I can’t wait to take the next one. Perilously drinkable. Please, oh please, let them brew this again next year. I promise to buy a keg.

A middle of the road dunkler bock. Aroma was caramel and roasted malt. Pour was a nice burnt amber with a thin off white ring for a head. Taste was a little flat and weak. Caramel malt, iced tea in the front with little carbonation. Stale hops in the aftertaste. There’s better out there.

Pours bright gold into a stem glass. Fluffy bright white head tophats the rim. Lemon joy aromas. Crisp caramel malt and a dry spice finish.

500ml bottle - Pours amber with a one finger head and some yeast floaters. The aroma is mainly caramel malt. It has a malt rich flavor with some very mild hops and a hint of dark fruit and spice. The smooth medium body works well and the easy going finish has a little alcohol noticeable.

A somewhat vigorous pour produces a fat-two-finger thick, pale tan colored head. The beer is a brilliatnly clear, deep ruby color that shows a red stained, dark copper color when held up to the light. Grassy hop aromatics and honey / concentrated malt notes drive the aromas here. This is quite malt focused, but something seems a bit aged or stale here (despite this being a new release to my local package store). Touches of cherry, lots of maillard components, and just plain richly concentrated malt notes.

Medium-light mouthfeel makes this fairly drinkable if not even quaffable. The beer has a clean grain sweetness to it that quickly picks up concentrated malt notes that are reminiscent of toffee and cooked raisins. The beer finishes with a sharpness that seems contributed by an herbal hop bitterness and perhaps some part of the malt character. A touch of tartness accentuates the raisin-like flavors and helps to offset the chewy mouthfeel a bit. The hops add a bit of a spicy & herbal component to the finish.

An interesting beer, but it seems a bit stale somehow, especially the the malt seems a bit flabby here.

Purchased: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Liquors, Tucson, AZ