Smuttynose Maibock

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

A clear hazelnut color with a small beige head that becomes blotchy. Fruity and grainy aroma. Interesting flavors. Wood flavor, banana, medicinal, alcohol and a nice mix of hops (especially for the style). This is a sweet beer. A malty finish. This beer is all over the place which, to me, is always a fun drinking experience. Long lasting aftertaste is spicy hops.

Pours a clear dark copper with a nice off-white head. Aroma boasts plenty of rich caramel malt with a nice lager yeast background. Starts syrupy sweet and thick with nice complexity, light toffee and butterscotch with a hint of light fruits and a hoppy bitterness showing up at the end. Fresh, bold, sweet, and flavorful, a very nice maibock. Thanks boto!

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.

Nose is sweet, malty with caramel...Nice red-tinged cola hue; head is of moderate dimensions with spotted lacy trails...Sweetness dominates the palate upon first sip, giving way to more subtle fruity tones. Hops are detectable but clearly there to add sidebar comments. The finish is slightly tangy. The body is pleasantly full, more like a doppel than most Maibocks, and overall its "bigness" is a considerable asset, though its balance is a little too "malt-heavy" for my taste...but very good nonetheless.

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!

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.

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.

22oz bottle pours a hazy color of peaches and cantaloupe. Moderately thick, full, chewy, upright and solid on the palate, with a sweet fruitiness and and a mild but noticeable twang that seems to lighten the entire experience and give the drinking session liveliness. Fresh, sticky, frothy, delicious stuff. Nowhere near a true maibock but pretty good for whatever sort of hybrid style it actually is.