Creature Comforts & Burial Beer Co. Culture Keepers Maibock Photo: Let Us Drink Beer Blog

Are you a season drinker? Many beer enthusiasts who enjoy a variety of styles tend to make their selections based on particular times of year or events. Summer is great for lighter, refreshing styles like Koslch, Pilsner or Saison. Fall is time for Oktoberfest beers. The Holiday Season begs for spiced Christmas beers. Winter calls for hearty Stouts or Baltic Porter. What about Spring? I dare say most beer drinkers do not associate a particular beer with Spring, but I submit to you Maibock. It’s not apparent why, maybe pale Mexican lager overshadows it because of Cinco de Mayo, but Maibock is overlooked by most breweries and beer enthusiasts as the essential Spring seasonal beer.

Before getting into what Maibock is, we should touch on a little background. Bock style beers are strong (Starkbier) beers that originated in Germany. In his seminal guide to the world of beers The Beer Bible, Jeff Alworth describes Bocks as “Germany’s sipping beers”. They encompass Helles/Dunkles Bock, Dopplebock and Eisbock (a distilled beer). Many beer drinkers are familiar with world class Doppelbock offerings like Ayinger Celebrator and Paulaner Salvator. These rich, full bodied lagers were originally brewed by Franciscan monks for sustenance during fasting. If you are really lucky, you may have a local brewery that will make a Doppelbock from time to time. Then there is standard Bock. When looking for standard Bock, you’ll find them in either a lighter colored Helles Bock or darker Dunkles Bock. Where does Maibock fit into all this? Maibock (Mai is German for May, Bock means buck or goat – that’s another blog post!) is a Helles Bock brewed to be drunk – you guessed it – in the Spring.

Maibock is lager (bottom fermented) beer brewed using mostly Pilsner and Vienna malts with caramel or Munich malt added for color. Hops are Noble varieties, typically Saazer. The results are a malty beer with a grainy, light toast backbone supporting a spicy or, sometimes floral, hop aroma and flavor. It will be medium bodied with a distinctly clean lager finish. ABV’s land between 6% and 7.5%. Think of it as a fuller bodied, more rich and stronger version of Helles or Amber lager.

Creature Comforts & Burial Beer Co. Culture Keepers Maibock Photo: Let Us Drink Beer Blog

In the United States, Maibock can be a bit of a challenge to find. Not many breweries pay attention to it with the popularity of pale lagers and IPA. If you are interested in trying this style out, and I highly recommend you do, start looking for them in late March into April. Hofbrau Maibock is one that is fairly readily available if you have a bottle shop that is well stocked with imports. Even better, if you have a lager focused brewery near you, that’s a great place to try on fresh on tap. Some excellent examples can be found at Dovetail Brewing (IL), KC Bier Co. (MO), Rosenstadt Brewery (OR), and East Brothers(CA). My personal favorite is a wonderful collaboration between Creature Comforts Brewing (GA) and Burial Beer Co. (NC) named Culture Keepers. You’ll find my review of it here.

It’s pretty hard to compete with Cinco de Mayo, especially in North America, but I’d love to see Maibock make a bit of a comeback as a more available seasonal beer in Spring. If you have a favorite or you local brewery makes one annual, be sure to give them a shout out in the comments.

Thanks for reading and until next time…

Let Us Drink Beer!

Remember, always drink responsibly!

Let Us Drink Beer

Thanks for reading, until next time…Let Us Drink Beer!

Remember, always drink responsibly!

Other Let Us Drink Beer Reviews:

• Beer Review: Galactic Space Circus (Creature Comforts Brewing Co.)
• Beer Review: Fast Fjord Norwegian IPA (Gate City Brewing)
• Variant Brewing Company – Roswell, GA
• Beer Review: ETA IPA (Wild Leap Brew Co.)
• Beer Review: Koko Buni (Creature Comforts)
• Beer Review: Heady Topper (The Alchemist)
• Seasonal Drinking – Maibock

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Thursday night I took the time to travel up 283 for 20 or so minutes to get to Mt. Joy to visit my friend Ming to help him with some post-interview writing he had to do for a potential future job, and of course I can’t help myself but stop in at a brewery that is fifteen from his house.

So upon arrival, me, Ming, and Don head over and I grab myself a flight, and over the course of a good forty minutes we drank, they ate (and drank), and we chatted. What’s better than that?

I’ve been to Twisted Bine once before, soon after they had opened (again when visiting Ming) and this was my second time. I’ve only had their beers from visits (don’t know if they’ve done any brewfests, I know their not canning/bottling and distributing). Both times I’ve come away enjoying the beers I’ve had and the brewery itself is a lovely bar room and a fun inviting place.

As the name implies…. this was sweet. Very much so sweet. Like milk stout sweet (which coincidentally is the next beer, Mr. Radar).

Beer: Sweet Tooth (Barrel Aged)
Brewery: Twisted Bine Beer Co.
Style: Stout – Double/Imperial
ABV: 9.5%
IBU: N/A
Untappd Write-Up: Imperial Stout – Just as the name suggests, we sweetened up this bold full bodied imperial stout and then stashed it in a whiskey barrel. We should have called this one Smooth Tooth!

It certainly is smooth and a great sipper or easy gulper, whatever your preference. The look is pure jet engine oil black and you could take a UV light or a regular light or a five thousand power watt lightbulb to it and probably not see through it. Aroma is very malty, with a bit of the whiskey peeking out.

The taste is very sweet, smooth, but with very little whiskey bite or flavor. Its not cloying and the mouthfeel is very heavy and thick, pretty much everything you’d want in an Imperial Stout. Was hoping for some more of the whiskey flavor though which sadly goes too unnoticed.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 4.21 (as of 8.10.19)

I had to do a double-check on these, Sweet Tooth tasted more of the milk stout than this did, and this actually has a bit of the bite to it. But its not a whiskey bite, and its a bit thinner, just odd that the “Milk Stout” is less smooth, less sugary, and less sweet than the Imperial Stout aged in whiskey, but after drinking it more you can definitely tell the difference between the two.

Thats not really to take anything away from this. Its still a fine beer, just the lesser of the two in most aspects.

Beer: Mr Radar
Brewery: Twisted Bine Beer Co
Style: Stout – Milk / Sweet
ABV: 5%
IBU: 22
Untappd Write-Up: Velvety smooth with a touch of sweetness, this milk stout brewed with lactose sugar gives nutty hugs and chocolatey kisses.

I don’t think this is nearly as velvety smooth as the Sweet Tooth, nor is this as sweet either. Also a bit surprised to find an IBU listing for this, would be curious which hops they used.

Again, none of this is to say its bad. Just expected a bit more sweetness, smoothness, but its still a good beer.

Appearance, its dark, but not quite as dark as the Sweet Tooth. Aroma has notes of chocolate but subtle behind a malted grain bill.

Taste is roasted malt, biscuity even, with some chocolate notes, and a bit smoother and sweeter the more you drink it. I think a full draft would showcase the sweetness and smoothness better than a taster can do. As this definitely seems made for sipping and enjoying rather than ‘breezing through’.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.75 (as of 8.10.19)

I’m a sucker for bocks, of all types, if I see one on a tap list, you best be betting that I’m trying it. And this certainly doesn’t disappoint.

Beer: Mai Concerto
Brewery: Twisted Bine Beer Co.
Style: Bock – Hell / Maibock / Lentebock
ABV: 6.8%
IBU: N/A
Untappd Write-Up: Maibock- Pale, medium to full bodied lager whose bready, sweet malty palate and subtle hop character comes in around 6.8%.

This was a nice change-up from the previous two stouts. Lighter but with great flavor and a whole different vibe than that of the stouts.

This has a nice bready, biscuity, light earthy aroma to it. As if opening the door to a bakery that might not have made a brand new fresh loaf but has made one recently (within the past hour) and the air still has the smell of it on it.

The coloring is a nice light brown clear hue that looks like most well made lagers (glares menacingly at Bud Light, Budweiser, and Coors).

Taste is on point. Bready, malty, with a sweetness, and then kicks off with a bit of a bittering from the hops. Its not so much blended but the tastes kind of come in waves, first bready and with some malt, then a sweetness, and then a slight bitterness. A nice pleasant aftertaste that sits on your tongue as well.

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.52 (as of 8.10.19)

As you could see in the previous picture, this came with an orange slice, which, on the whole is ‘meh’ to me, but I can see the appeal to the “Blue Moon” crowd, and the likes. Plus if you want to eat an orange slice, there ya go….

Belgian Wits and Witbiers in general are once again another style that I will seek out when seen on the draft board (over say an IPA or Pale Ale), so over the two IPAs on their taplist that I haven’t had yet I chose this to close my night here.

Beer: Song About Rainbows
Brewery: Twisted Bine Beer Co.
Style: Witbier
ABV: 5.3%
IBU: N/A
Untappd Write-Up: This traditional Belgian style beer has a mild spice and a hint of sweetness from the clementine peels used in the boil. Sunshine and rainbows in a glass, great on a hot summer day!

This was a well done, crisp, clear, dry, Witbier, done in the Belgian style, so typically a bit dryer than some Witbiers, which I tend to prefer.

The coloring is light, clear, and has a nice ring of head to the top, just appropriate.

The aroma is very heavy orange/clementine. And thats even after pulling the orange slice out, it still resonates. Which is a bit of a reason why I wish the orange slice wasn’t given, as it kind of clouds this, but its nothing to really agitate me over or anything.

Taste hits all the style points and markers. Its dry, its crisp, its smooth, it has that Belgian spice medley that plays on your tongue and leaves a wonderful aftertaste, and it has the notes of clementine and orange. You pick up the coriander that is the staple spice and it all plays well together. Mouthfeel isn’t thick or cloying, and its not too thin of a beer either, so all is done well there as well.

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.65 (as of 8.10.19)

And that wraps up another brewery visit and stop. I would definitely recommend Twisted Bine if you are in the area. Great location, nice spot, my friends rave about the food (the fries are good, from what I’ve had), and the beer is all done very well. Always a must stop for me whenever visiting Ming.

In blog news, expect to see the Moo-Funk Home Brew event blog post either tonight or early tomorrow (I know, I know, finally! Its only nearly 1 month after the event…. )


Until then, see you next time and keep drinking people. Don’t want to put your liver out of a job!

-B. Kline