Beer Review: Straub Maibock

Serving Type: Draft/Growler

ABV: 6.9 percent

Appearance: This Maibock poured a pretty amber color with a few orange hues dabbling around here and there. The body was crowned by an ivory white head that was foamy and strong at first, but faded away after a few minutes with weak lacing. The color of the head was quite complimentary to the amber in the body of the brew. I couldn't pick up much carbonation at all that led me to believe that there wouldn't be much in the texture of this beer.

Smell: I didn't pick out much in the aroma, but I got two distinct things. There was a good bit of some roasted malt, albeit somewhere in the middle of not roasted and roasted. Let's just say medium roasted malt. The other aspect was a big hop presence. Almost into the land of IPA. It was that intense.

Taste: It kind of went the wrong way for me once I started drinking it. I really couldn't pick out anything else other than the intensity of the hops in what I can generously classify as a bitter finish. There wasn't much of anything sweet or malty to compliment the intensity. At least for my taste.

Overall Rating: 

Started on a slightly positive note with this brew, but ended on a much lower one. Could this be a bad batch, perhaps? I've heard both good and bad things about this one. I know maibocks are supposed to be a bit more hop-concentrated, but I also like ones with a touch of something sweet to take some of the harshness away.

Much of the Maibock

Over the past few weeks I've had chances to try two of the local maibocks. A while ago a growler full of Straub Maibock fell into my hands by chance. Over this past weekend I ordered a glass of Penn Brewery's Penndemonium Maibock while on one of my Blue Dust excursions.

I think that both brews were diverse in nature given the way the style of beer is. Maibocks are traditionally a spring beer, tend to be a bit darker than bocks  and have a hop character that's a bit more noticeable.

The two local ones I tried were at two ends of the spectrum, though. Straub's was really strong. The hop bitterness was intense as was the alcohol presence. It was a bit of a struggle. On the other hand, the Penndemonium was subtle and pleasant. There was a sweet maltiness that was present and mixed well with the above-average hop bitterness. It was just right.

One could make the argument that the Penndemonium might not fit under the Maibock category due to it's lighter hop content. Don't forget who's writing this, though. You know how I am when it comes to that. While I'm talking about Penn Brewery.

You might remember an older post about the new Summer Berry Weiss they brought out. I also found myself a bit of that. The wheat presence was very strong and provided that backbone that reminds me of a well-baked pie crust. Oh yea, and there was some tasty berries.