1.6 AROMA 2/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 3/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 6/20
So here is the deal. I sat down to do my taxes and got one of these Abita "beers" out of the fridge to accompany me. Honestly, I would rather do another tax return than have another of these. It is at times like this that I wish beer DIDN’T come in 6’ers. That means I have to drink 5 more of the "bocks." What went so wrong for me? Well, first off it smells like wet grain and cardboard. Mmmm. It only gets better. Let me ask you this, just because Abita is located in Louisiana, does it have to make beer that tastes like swamp in a bottle? Just wondering. Dirty, sour and of no contest to Einbecker, HB or any other mai-bock out there. Now I just need to find a sink that will accept this pour.
2.9 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 11/20
Clear dark amber body with a medium frothy white head. Sweet honey and caramel aroma. Sweet caramel and some roasted malt and graininess.
2.6 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 11/20
Kinda nasty thick cloying beer without much carbonation. Could be worse though.
2.5 AROMA 4/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 4/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 12/20
Pours a thick amber, without much of a head. Streams of carbonation from the sides of the glass. Heavy malt aroma, with perhaps a bit of hops cutting through. Fairly heavy, with a sweet, almost cloying quality. Long, lingering finish. Not much else. Shame Abita doesn’t get more experimental with its beers. With such a long track record, they should look into marketing stouts, IPAs, and imperials.
3.2 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
Bottle. "Mardi Gras Bock". Decent, but kind of plain. Sweeter than I initially expected, but decent none the less. My initial reaction was that I could tell this was an abita beer as it shared a bit of the "purple haze" taste when I first cracked into it.
2.2 AROMA 4/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 4/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 9/20
Mardi Gras Bock. Very bland hops with a slight hint at some form of malt (I can’t say caramel because I can barely taste it); biscuit, grassy aroma; light body with much left to be desired on the palate and in the aftertaste; hazy copper appearance. Maybe it’s because Carnival has just wrapped up down here, but I couldn’t find myself getting excited about this brew. Nothing special about it, although I will say that the taste actually starts to grow on you ever so slightly with each sip.
3.5 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
On tap at the Hard Rock in the big easy. This was a much better beer than the amber I tried, but that’s not really saying too much. Still the stark contrast between the two made for a better tasting of this beer than normal i’d say. The caramel malts balance great with the subtle german style hops. I haven’t had much from this style but I think this sort of beer is my favorite german so far. Go to New Orleans during Mardi Gras and get this beer! :) Like the guy below me said, Let the good times roll!
4.4 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 19/20
12 oz bottle. Pours to a beautiful, bright, deep golden color, with a nice, white head, that fades, and a good carbonation. The nose on this beer is excellent, with lots of good toasty and pale malt aroma. The palate is very polished, with really good toasty, light nutty, and pale malt flavor, on a round clean body. This beer finishes with more of those really great toasty and pale malt flavors, then ends some herbal hop balance to take some of the malty edge off this beer. Very well done, maibock, with really fantastic malt character in aroma and flavor. Great Madri Gras beer! Match this one with a big slice of King Cake, and Laissez les bons temps rouler!
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