Maibock
Strange Craft Beer Company

First tried this a few weeks back during the maibock/helles online tasting...

Cloudy, orange body; thin yet creamy and lasting head. Warm bread crust aroma. An interesting cereal grain flavor infused with a fine hop bitterness that lingers long into the finish; subtle caramel notes; some esters lurking deep in the background. Heavy body; creamy with a mild bite.

This is a tasty little sucker that doesn't quite fit a maibock styling yet is still quite drinkable. In many ways, this strikes me as being more of a pale mild ale than a bock-styled beer. It does have a warm, yeast-y quality overall, and the mouthfeel doesn't really have a lager smoothness, but it still nicely goes down the hatch on a cold, snowy, late Spring evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

strange hasnt done a ton of lagers and it shows a little here. really generic yeast profile to it, and all the sugars arent all the way fermented down, like it needs more time in a conditioning tank, but what do i know? the odd part here for me is that it has no smell, literally none, like water. where did it go? i just cant catch a whiff of anything, good or bad, so weird. the flavor is thankfully more happening. darker richer sweeter german style malt all the way through, with little hops to balance, and that dessert bread yeast character on the finish. simple but a little sloppy, and not finishing up well for the style i dont think. maybe a hint of raisin or dried date in there, but its hardly enough nuance to make it relevant next to better examples of the spring bock. nice carbonation and a soft feel lighten its booze character, but this is one in need of some cleaning up i think. stick to the hoppy stuff at strange, theyve got those dialed in a little better than this one.