Maibock
Four Generals Brewing

Poured into a Celebrator pokal. Pours a medium to dark, rich golden amber with a little copper and a two finger off-white head with good retention and lacing. Aroma of bready, lightly caramel malt, hints of raisins, grassy and floral hops. Flavor is bready and caramel malt, light dates, grassy and lightly floral hops; a little graininess in the moderately bitter finish. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. A solid maibock that has nice rich colors and inviting aroma. The flavor is traditional, with a little floral and faintly citrus hops in the mix that give this just a slightly brighter taste than the traditonal noble hops, although they are the main profile. This looked nice and smelled and tasted both faithful to the style and quite satisfying. I found the finish to have less of the astringent graininess and noble hop character; it is hopped well, but smooth. A nice take on the style that I liked better than many imported ones. I liked all the beers from this brewery so far and will stop in again. They have most of their offerings in nicely sized 16 oz. bottles as well as draft.

 

Poured from 500mL bottle into a dimpled mug. Bottled 9/27/21.

Appearance: rich amber-orange hue with a thick finger of frothy ivory foam atop. I think it looks damn good indeed.

Smell: sweet and sticky, as befitting the style, and rather bready. There's also a big biscuit component here which, frankly, is not my favorite. Still, it seems very well-made.

Taste: sweet, fruity, sticky; toffee and caramel and marshmallow, but somehow also still a little bit fruity. Like a lot of other Four Generals beers I've tried, there's a fair hit of bitterness at the end of this one. A bit of that biscuity malt character is in there as well, sure, but still this is a good beer.

Mouthfeel: medium-rich body with a good carbonation and a smooth creaminess. I'm on board!

Overall: I mean, a maibock lets you produce some big flavors. And while I could do with a bit less of this biscuity character, this is basically what I want in a beer of this style.