Smuttynose Maibock

Brewed by Smuttynose Brewing Company
Style: Heller Bock
Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA

On tap at Barcade: A malty, pretty sweet Maibock. Not overally hopped, but more hops than I expected from the style. Pretty well-balanced. The body color is medium amber, with a small white head. Some citrus and honey in the flavor make it quite pleasant. Refreshing and clean.

Slightly hazy, amber/orange appearance with a medium size, off white head and good lacing. Sweet, caramel malt aroma accented with soft fruits. Pleasing, toffeeish taste, sweet, fruity, malty, mildly herbal, with a low keyed hop presence. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with a decent amount of carbonation. Long lasting, honeyed finish.

Bottle: Very good Maibock. Transluscent brown to copper in color and mine poured with fair sized white head. Aroma is very noble hoppy, peppery, grassy with a touch of malt. The flavor is carmel and hops. It is slightly bitter. Dry finish, good beer.

incredible! poured a brownish copper color with a thin white head. head had great retention. aroma was hoppy and peppery. Taste had caramel and hops. The transition of flavours really impressed me initally being sweet and then cascading into a nice hoppy tone. Real good on the mouth. Almost perfect.

Almost clear, rich gold, small white head, adequate lacing. Honey, sweet malts, and yeast. Taste is too bready, too yeasty, to grassy, too floral for my preferences, and there is just a tad too much alcohol. Close, but it just doesn’t work. If I wanted that much bread and yeast I’d go with a less sweet Belgian saison or tripel.

Pours a bright, slightly hazy golden amber with a dense one finger head that dissipates fairly quickly leaving no lacing. The smell is wonderfully sweet with caramel malts, apples, yeast and some very mild citrus hops. First taste is of the super sweet sugar which gives way to the malt background before finishing with the citrus hops. There are also some spices present in the finish. It’s medium bodied and smooth with good carbonation, almost syrupy, but not quite. This is one of the better Maibocks I’ve had and I’m once again impressed by a Smuttynose brew. Nice!

Apple, yeasty, bread aroma. Whitish head mostly lasting. Deep amber hue. Very nice brew. Maibocks are great. Moderate sweetness initially, chewy, heavy malted character, with wonderful balancing hops in the finish. A very nice brew, smuttynose impresses me occasionally with a good brew like this.

(22 oz bottle (2007) from <A HREF=http://www.ratebeer.com/Place/maryland/baltim target=blank>Wells Discount Liquors) Good but deviates from style with lots of hops...Pours lightly brownish gold, cloudy. Four fingers of foamy white head. Aroma of caramel, honey, pine, vanilla, bread and hay. More pine than normal (for a heller bock). Mouthfeel quite full, smooth, even a little sticky. Big patches and rings of foamy lacing. Flavor of pine over caramel but I think the pine wins. Almost big IPA-like. Not that it’s tons of hops but I think the malt takes a back seat when a great bock should be richly malty. The flavor also has notes of honey, hay and vanilla and is a little hot esp. in finish. Has a big beer feel and I enjoyed it even if I’m not sure about it being a really good bock.