Spring Bock
St. Mel's Brewing Company

 

I picked up a 500mL bottle of this brew from an "Off-License" store in the Dublin area whist on a business trip. Best Before 310320 L02219. Excited to try an Irish interpretation of maibock. Chilled to refrigerator temperature and poured into a room temp tulip.

Spoiler alert: Drink this only slightly chilled, not too cold!

Crystal clear strawberry amber brew puts up a lovely 1-2 fingers of dense taupe foam with great retention. Displays ample carbonation. Smell and taste are both quite faint. Mild light malts, mild grassy hop bite lingers on the back of the tongue long into the finish. The beer is highly attenuated, quite dry with little malt presence, relatively thin. As it warms and breathes, however, a lot of malt character comes out. Honey, butter, a hint of cocoa. Unfortunately my glass is nearly gone at this point. Wish I had another to drink less cold. Overall a very easy drinker. I wouldn't be surprised if this brew is phenomenal on tap but has lost something during bottling.

Note: currently classified as "German Bock" style but more accurately should be entered as "German Maibock".

 

A seasonal. The beer that heralds the coming of Spring. Bottle conditioned. Golden brown. As expected strong yeast mouth feel. I like it but as Bocks are not my regular beer I will it to others to compare to other Bocks. St Mels are coming up with some fine beers.