Smuttynose Maibock

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

Bottle. 2008 vintage. Pretty orange-amber. Tall fluffy white head. Aroma is caramel, honey, spicy and floral hops and soft grassy notes. Some bready notes as well. Taste is grassy and floral with spicy hops, caramel, dark bread, soft yeast and honey. Some buttery notes too. Gets sweet in spots but then has some herbal and floral notes coming through. Maybe a buttered and honeyed biscuit with flowery hops could describe this. Body is medium to medium-full with a strong creamy carbonation. The end brings more bread, caramel, honey, butter, soft fruit, sweet malts, grass and spicy hops. Tasty beer!

Athens, Ga. - Five Points Bottle Shop - 22 oz bomber. Pours a slightly murky light orange with a silky white head. Sweet, bready aroma, hints of kids vitamins and yeast. Flavor is sweet as well with some sweet raw cake mix, subtle raisins, some white grapes. Mouthfeel is sticky enough. Solid bock.

Bomber from Phhd. Thanks Ethan. Shared first beer of election night. Pours light orange with a bright white head. Nose is sweet and malty. Taste is sweet malty and biscuitty. Taste and drinkable.

Bottle from Brother Tuckers. Pours an apricot color. Aroma is fruity and malty. I get tropical frutis all over the place and some yeasty notes. Flavor is yeasty, malty, not as fruity as the nose. I get some sweetness and light bitterness as well. Not bad at all.

The pour reveals a clear orange amber color with a thin white head. Very nice aroma of fruits, malt and some sweetness. The flavor has a great fruity, malty presence with some hops and restrained sweetness. The body is medium with an oily texture and gentle carbonation. This is easily the best maibock I’ve had so far.

In short: An extra-refreshing juicy maibock. Excellent execution in simplicity
How: Bottle 22oz, fresh. on the “Stone-Bourbon-Barrel-RIS-Hype-And-Disappointment” tasting session with the Montreal crew
The look: Cloudy orange body with a medium white head
In long: Lots of grainy cereals, light caramel and soft honey, citrus and orange juice and fresh grass. A light tartness. Lively carbonation and very pleasant mouthfeel. Wow! Nothing fancy, but this is an extra-refreshing strong lager that can be enjoyed by the full pint, and many of them. An unexpected surprise to me. Coming into this tasting I never thought a Smuttynose Lager would come out on top of the Stone Bourbon Barrel RIS. That’s like a piss-drunk hare beating a hare on speed in a screwed-up psychedelic La Fontaine’s Fable. Now what the fuck am I talking about?!?!

Pours and incredible translucient copper color with a tall fluffy ivory head that leaves moderate lacing. Aroma has a fruity maltiness and a good clean sweetness. Taste starts with a semisweet maltiness, some caramel tastes take over the middle, and it ends with just a faint bitterness to balance it out. Very smooth and clean taste that is really impressive. Another great Smuttynose brew.

Clear brown, nice white head. Nutty, toasty aroma, and the flavor is pretty much the same. Fairly simple, but well made and pretty darn tasty. Nicely dry finish.