Maibock
The Fort Collins Brewery

 

 

 

 

 

 

Decent Bach with good color and flavor

 

 

 

 

 

 

22 ounce bottle into lager glass, no bottle dating. Pours lightly hazy deep reddish copper color with a 1 finger dense light khaki head with good retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Light spotty lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of caramel, toffee, toast, biscuit, brown sugar, nuttiness, raisin, plum, herbal, grass, light pepper, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Nice aromas with good complexity and solid balance of dark/bready malt, earthy hops, and fruity ester notes; with good strength. Taste of caramel, toast, toffee, biscuit, brown sugar, nuttiness, herbal, grass, light pepper, raisin, plum, and herbal/toasted earthiness. Slight earthy bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of caramel, toffee, toast, biscuit, brown sugar, nuttiness, herbal, grass, light pepper, light dark fruit, and herbal/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Nice complexity and robustness of dark/bready malt, earthy hops, and fruity ester flavors; with a good malt/bitterness balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Medium carbonation and body; with a smooth, crisp, and fairly creamy/bready mouthfeel that is good. Alcohol is well hidden with minimal warming present after the finish. Overall this is a solid maibock style. Good complexity and balance of dark/bready malt, earthy hops, and fruity ester flavors; and very smooth and crisp to drink. Definitely showed some signs of age, but it held up well enough and was enjoyable.

 

 

 

I picked a bottle of Fort Collins Brewery's Maibock a couple weeks ago for $5.70 at Cork N Ale. I enjoy Maibocks, especially this time of the year and I'm interested to see how this one turns out, so lets see how it goes. No visible bottling date. Poured from a brown 22oz bottle into a imperial pint glass.

A- The label looks nice, I like the design and since it's a bock it's got a goat on the label, I think it's a little eye catching. It poured a nice darker amber color that took on more a darker ruby color when held to the light with a fingers wroth of bubbly light tan head that quickly faded to a thin bubbly ring that eventually faded away and it left a little bit of spotty lacing behind. This beer wasn't that great looking, the color was more Bock like than Maibock like and the head, lacing and retention were disappointing.

S- The aroma starts off with a higher amount of medium sweetness that bordered one being highly sweet and it's followed by the malts being the first to show up and they impart some sweet malt, caramel malt, caramel, light toffee and some light toasted malt like aromas with some doughy yeast and light brown bread aroma showing up in the background. Up next comes the dark fruits which impart some red grape and raisin like aromas. This beer had a nice aroma, but just like the appearance it was more bock like than Maibock like.

T- The taste seems to be very similar to the aroma and it starts off with a higher amount of medium sweetness that's on the border of being highly sweet and it's followed by the malts being the first to show up and they impart all those malty aspects that they did in the aroma with the sweet malts, caramel malts and caramel flavors seeming to stick out the most. Up next comes some of that doughy yeast and brown bread like flavors followed by some dark fruits which impart the same red grape and raisin like aspect that I got in the aroma. On the finish there's pretty much no bitterness with some more sweetness and it had a malty and raisin like aftertaste. This was a nice tasting beer, but again I felt like it was more like a bock than a Maibock.

M- Pretty smooth, a little crisp, a little sticky, rich, on the thicker side of being medium bodied with a medium amount of carbonation. The mouthfeel was nice, but it was still more similar to a Bock than a Maibock.

Overall I thought this was a decent beer, but I didn't think it was a good example of a Maibock simply because it lacked the key aspects that make a Maibock different from a regular Bock and the way it stands I found this beer to pretty similar to a Dopplebock, it's not bad, just not what I expected or wanted at the moment. This beer had a nice drinkability, it was smooth, a little crisp, a little sticky, rich, a little filling and the taste did a nice job at holding my attention, I think half the bottle is the perfect amount for me, I think I could drink the whole bottle, but I would rather split it with someone. What I like the most about this beer was the drinkability, I thought it was smooth and the sweetness wasn't too out of control. What I liked the least about this beer was that I found it to be much more Dopplebock like than Maibock like, there's no way I would be able to guess this was a Maibock if I tried it blind. I don't think I would buy this beer again especially if I was in the mood for a Maibock and I wouldn't recommend it as a good Maibock simple because it isn't one. All in all I was let sown with this one, I was expecting a Maibock and instead I got a beer that was very close to being a Dopplebock and it just wasn't fulfilling as a Maibock. It isn't my favorite Maibock and it's one of my least favorite beers from this brewery. Better luck next time guys, I think you need to go back to drawing board with this one.

Bottle poured into Chimay Chalice.

A: Deep copper. White head that dissipates very quickly.

S: Malt is sweet. Toffee. Dark fruits. Lack of hop presence in the aroma.

T: Bready toast. Yeasty. Malty sweetness. Toffee.

M: Light. Refreshing. Sessionable as hell. Yet, there isn't much to this. The type is dead on.

O: Great. Cannot complain about that at all.