Elderflower Maibock
Meantime Brewing Company Limited

Richly malty aroma with light citrus and some slightly tart, flowery notes. Just a touch of alcohol on the nose.

It pours a burnished orange colour, slightly hazy. Small off white head with poor retention.

The flavour is light with some sweet malt, a light touch of coriander spice and some fruitiness. I don't really get what is going on here. Is it a bock, maybe, with it's malty, alcoholic backbone. But then, where is the elderflower? What are the spices doing in here and why am I getting a flavourful yeast character? To me this is a bit confused and it doesn't work.

Medium body with moderate (maybe a bit higher than moderate) carbonation. It's okay but it isn't the luscious, rich mouthfeel I expect from a bock.

The flavours here would be fine if it wasn't described as an 'Elderflower Maibock'. To me the connotations that brings are not brought out in the beer and it suffers for it. As a drink, it is acceptable and I am happy to drink it.

Fair enough, I've only got myself to blame. I don't really like elderflower much so I don't know what I was expecting....the nose is floral and pleasant not too over the top. On the palate is elderflower loud and proud. Can't really describe it if you're not familiar with elderflower but in a way I'd say they've nailed it. It's an elderflower beer, the mailbock part of it seems to be neither here nor there, this is all about the elderflower. So, if you like elderflower you'll love it, if you don't, you won't. Took points off for drinkability coz 500ml is waaay too much for this kind of beer. Considering the size of most of their other beer bottles, I have no idea why they thought this would be appropriate for a 500ml.

Picked this up at Purvis Cellars, Melbourne.

Bottle 907 of 1000 and vintage 18th May 2009. (I notice the reviews for these Limited Editions from Meantime are all Australian based... were these limited edition/release beers just in the Australian market?)

Pours a nice looking orange with a bright white head. Head dissipated almost instantly. Very aromatic as advertised on the bottle, very herby.... possibly elderflowers, I would not know. While I sort of enjoyed the smell at first it started annoy me as I drank it as I wasn't getting as much out of the taste as I was the smell. Could definitely taste those herbal notes in there but it was a little timid. I guess I was expecting a crazy tasting beer being an 'Elderflower Maibock' but it was very centre of the road for me.

A - Clear orange colour with a 2cm white head that falls away quite quickly.
S - Floral notes initially followed by a toasted bread and biscuity malt character.
T - Floral also in taste with some herbal/earthy notes as well as the bready, biscuit character.
M - Fairly light bodied, medium to high carbonation. Touch of bitterness.
D - A nice drinkable beer.

I originally wrote this review on my phone, and then lost it, so it's not as complete as once it was.

Pours an orange colour without much in the way of head, some thin trails of lace left behind as it goes down, with a clear steady bead. Nice colour, but otherwise pretty meh.

Quite malty on the nose with caramel notes, toffee, a nice earthy richness to it, even a little bit dark for the appearance with some roasty notes. Some distinct hints of herbs - rosemary and parsley at the back, and a little floral aroma. Quite nice.

Taste is very malty and rich, with a strong earthy molasses flavour providing a good hearty backbone. Towards the mid there come some resiny notes with hints of pine and lavender as well. Very organic overall with a soil-esque structure providing an almost corporeal flavour, with a slight saltiness making this actually quite a savoury drop. Nice, interesting flavours, fairly good balance and fairly unique. I would hesitate to call it an English spin on a German style because I'm not familiar enough with the Maibock to make that call (and it's similar enough to Rogue's Dead Guy), but the maltiness has a nice English edge.

Mouthfeel is quite smooth but a bit harsh towards the back.

Quite a nice drinkable drop, balanced and smooth.

Pours a golden copper colour, with an intiailly frothy, but ultimately filmy head of off-white bubbles. No lacing, and the head looks rather thin. Boisterous large-bubbled carbonation is a bit worrisome as well. Otherwise not bad.

Some herbal greenery on the nose, a bit like crushed basil, along with a raw bitter note, reminiscent of English hops, but either concealed, or slightly warped by the other aromas in the beer. A slight wet grain sweetness to it as well. Not bad, but not astonishing.

Taste is rather dry, with an initial English Pale character of thin grainy malt, before a clear phenolic bitterness comes through, reminiscent most to me of Fraoch heather ale. Finish is very dry, with a light copper character. The bitterness is odd, but not unpleasant. Mouthfeel is tingly but tight, a bit of smoothness wouldn't have gone astray, but it's more refreshing for how it is.

Yeah, a drinkable brew. Nothing to knock my socks off though, and considering the style is slightly off-centre, I was expecting something a little bit different and a little more exciting.

On the label it states this is bottle 804 of 1000 and vintage 18th may 2009,it pours a nice copper hue with decent carbonation that leaves a half finger fast vanishing head with a ring of lacing,the aromas are floral herbs and caramel malts,it has an above average sticky mouthfeel for the style and has a very floral,malty taste to it,the elderflowers and the malts used are very dominant in this beer making it not bad,easy enough to drink and glad ive tried but have had better.

A while back I pretty much wrote Meantime off - I didn't much care for the IPA and HATED the Coffee Porter, but a friend laid a bottle of the London Porter on me recently and I must say it was pretty friggin' delightful. Back on the horse. Let's see how this one does.

Bottle 858 of 1000. Rich, deep amber colour with a depressing lack of head - just a few big bubbles floating about. Great colour, though.

Rich sticky, caramelly malt smell with honey, toffee and tree resin notes. Not overly floral. Dead nice, though.

Malts come through stronger in the nose than in the taste, though they're definitely present. Refreshing floral/grassy hops + a bit of the aforementioned honey/toffee. The elderflower taste is not all that prominent, but it's in there. More honey in the finish. It's good, but a bit subdued - nothing leaves much of an impression. I wish they'd cut loose a bit more. The whole thing reminds me of a toned (way) down Dead Guy Ale.

Low carbonation and a lot of weight on the palate. Nice :)

You could certainly have a few. The fat, sticky mouthfeel is lovely, and the bitterness lingers and cleans up after it nicely. I imagine it'd get a bit cloying after a while though. Still, nicely done, all in all. Worth it if you can find it.