Heller Bock
Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg

From a 500 ml. bottle with no visual date sampled Feb. 18, 2026.

Cloudy straw yellow pour underneath a tremendous white head that fades completely in about 45 seconds.

Pointed aromas of caramel, toffee, butter, honey, dough and grassy hops.

The mouthfeel is around medium and soft.

The taste is very sweet and Euro malt forward with a modest bitter bite to finish it off.

Appearance - haze pale golden coloured body with white head

Smell - honeyed bread

Taste - honeyed bread, rich malts, biscuit

Mouthfeel - full bodied, lower medium level of carbonation, honey sweetness upfront, slight bit of herbal bitterness on the back end

Overall - this drinks much heavier and sweeter than other versions of maibocks. Honey is the predominant element of this one. Worth a try for those who are fans of the style.

Price Point - $4.89/ 16.9 oz bottle

 

Pours a fizzy frothy almost 1 finger head with fair retention, mild lacing, slight hazy pale color

Nose brings very rich malt, mild toasty more biscuity cereal, straw, corn, decoction depth, gristy even, mild herbal hop, mild sweet blonde malts

Taste starts fairly sweet, rich malts again, sweet blonde malt with a little caramelized sugars and candy notes, sweet corn and grainy cereal malt, more layered decoction mash, straw, almost lemon meringue notes, then moderate herbal hops with med bitterness, the sweetness lingers on the finish a bit too much actually and starts to clash a bit with the bitter hops that turn a little spicy late

Mouth is med to fuller bod, med prickly carb, a hint of warming alcohol

Overall pretty good, started quite nice with great aroma and good base malt, but the sweetness never went away and started to become a bit cloying and even clashed with the hops a bit as they turned spicy on the finish, definitely a bock but would be nice to dry off the finish a bit

On tap at Novare Res in Portland, ME.

This one pours a clear golden orange color, with a small head, and lots of lacing.

This smells like caramel and breadiness, with some light floral and grapefruit hop character on the finish.

This drinks really light, much lighter than the 7.4% ABV would suggest. This has a nice sweetness, caramel, nutty, bready, but finishes dry with some peppery and floral bitterness, and a touch of grapefruit fruitiness. The Centennial hops are a nice American touch here.

This is light bodied, clean, crisp, and super drinkable.

I loved seeing a “lighter” beer from Eggenberg, and doubly love seeing a classic established Belgian brewery collab with an American favorite with Schilling.

Pretty dang clear golden body with sudsy white head. The nose strikes me as particularly fruity, with notes of apple and lemon standing out. Has white bread yeast, and honey malt supporting, hint of sulfur esters. Taste has surprisingly a pear note added to the apple and lemon, the grassy hops have mild bitterness lending some contrast to the fluffy and full white bread. yeast, honey malts are a light backbone. Light and very smooth the hint of ester textures, yeast, then hops then malt in that order strength of texture

 

 

 

Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg "Heller Bock"
16.9 fl. oz. brown glass bottle without production codes or freshness dating
$5.49 @ Total Wine & More, Claymont, DE

Notes via stream of consciousness: It's poured a clear deep golden body beneath a finger's width of white foam. The head unfortunately seems to be dropping fairly quickly. How strong is this? It's just 7.4% ABV. Hmmm... maybe my glass is dirty? Strong beer will generally have less head retention but I'm going to have to give this one the benefit of the doubt. In the nose it's malty and herbal. I can't wait to taste it so here goes - it's beautifully malty with a rich, grainy character. It gives me the impression of a beer that's been decoction mashed but at the same time I'm not sure that that's the case. The hops are herbal and a touch spicy; I would guess they're Tettnanger and Saaz. The balance between the malt and hops and bitterness is beautiful, and although it's malty and sweetish it still finishes dry with some spiciness from the hops and alcohol lingering. There's also an underlying apple-like fruitiness that rounds it out nicely. It's fall right now and this beer seems to embody the season. I know that bock is generally considered as a beer for spring but I could drink this beer all year 'round, and sitting here on my back porch in slightly chilly 67˚F weather it works really well. In the mouth it's medium-full in body, and gently crisp with a moderate to median, fine-bubbled carbonation. It's clearly well brewed, and certainly - even remarkably - well-balanced. I'm going to have to get a few more bottles of this to get me through winter and spring.
Review #9,306

 

 

Pours a clear golden amber color with a finger of frothy white head.

Aromas of honey, sweet biscuits, cereal grains, grass, and spicy hops.

Flavor is on the sweeter side. Honey cereal and sweet dough followed by a touch of spicy hops on the finish.

Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Sticky.

Overall, not a style I'm overly familiar with but definitely a good beer with lots of sweet malty flavors and just a touch of bittering hops.

 

Technically, this is a Maibock, but the sweet florality associated with the style is replaced by a sweet, metallic punch that extends to the back of the tongue. Is there such a thing as a Septemberbock? If so, this is it as its sweetness and tad heaviness correspond to the season of harvest. A delightful, original surprise.

Poured from a 16.9 ounce bottle into a shaker pint glass.
L - Pours a medium straw color with a slight white head that dissipates quickly.
S - Smells of sweet maltiness.
T - Tastes malty with a nice bitterness.
F - Body and carbonation on the lighter side.
O - Nice easy drinking Maibock.

 

From the half liter bottle, it pours a clear yellow-golden color with a nice white head that slowly reduces and leaves lacing. Scent is malty, with notes of grass evident. The taste follows the nose, with an initial light bitterness, followed by malt.It has a medium body, with a modest light bitter aftertaste.