Maibock
Square One Brewery & Distillery

 

Pours a clear, copper color. 1/4 inch head of an off-white color. Decent retention and slight lacing. Smells of sweet malt, pale malt, hint of hops, and a hint of caramel malt. Fits the style of a Maibock / Helles Bock. Mouth feel is smooth and clean, with an average carbonation level. Tastes of sweet malt, pale malt, sugar, hint of hop, and a hint of caramel malt. Overall, decent appearance and body, but good blend and feel.

Pours a hazy dark amber color and was presented to me with a light film of yellowed head on top.

The aroma is decent. Caramel dominates, but some raw grain is present.

The taste is fine. Raw grain and caramel with a sweet finish.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied with low carbonation.

Drinkability is moderate to high. I enjoyed the beer and thought the flavor profile was good enough.

Maibock / Helles Bock calls for NO diacetyl in aroma or flavor. I admit to being able to detect this chemical at very low levels < 0.10 mg/L. George Fix reports in repitching yeast brewers often notice increases in the level of respiratory-deficient mutants in the pitching yeast. These mutants are strong producers of diacetyl and have lost their ability to reduce diacetyl. The presence of Gram-positive bacteria also cannot be ruled out as contributors to diacetyl formation.

With two brewing locations, Square One may have some issues with brewing techniques or even a stubborn pedio problem. It was my understanding that the Helles was brewed at the Augusta, MO location. I will try to follow up.

I tried 5 of the ten beers on tap and found them all well brewed except for this one. With great effort I returned to tasting the Helles (after a wonderful pairing of Square One Single Malt Scotch Ale with a pulled pork sandwich!)

A little hop bitterness crept through the butterscotch. Low melanoidins were covered in the aroma but were slightly evident as warming brought out some of the pale malts toasty notes.

To their credit, the waitstaff were understanding about this situation, offering to bring another beer to the table to replace the Helles.

You should never condem a brewpub for a single flawed beer and Square One has a unique situation with two brewing locations.

Square One is not gonna make the grade, serving stuff like this. Went on a Saturday evening, sitting outside.

Beer come in a pint glass, flat as a pancake on the headless amber pour. Just lifeless – how old is this stuff? The stadium pour has me a bit concerned about quality.

Almost no aroma, if you stick the glass up your nose you can finally detect bits of winter spice and malt.

The taste I will generously say was Maibock malty, with a touch of coridander mixed in – average body but generally boring. This seasonal must have been the bottom of the vat – cripe, glad my next 2 pints improved over this.

I love spring. Primarily because of all the lager seasonals that hit the bars, stores, etc. Maibock is definitely my favorite of these styles, but it seems a hard beer to nail. This offering from Square One came straight from the tap. It poured dark copper mildly hazy, good tan head. The color is a little too dark IMO. I like Maibock’s to be a bit lighter. The nose is all malt, caramel. There should be some hops in the nose. Taste is dark caramel, nice citrus orange mid drink, light bitterness on the finish. Smooth mouth feel good drinkability. This beer seems a bit off style. While the hop character is more pronounced in the flavor than it is in the nose, it seems more of a Munich Dunkel. Still, a nice spring lager.

Clear dark amber-copper color with a nice foamy lasting off white head that leaves some lacing in my glass. Has a sweet fruity and nutty aroma. Sweet and malty roasty caramel, honey flavors that has a sweet lasting finish, medium body with a soft and smooth mouthfeel, very nice.