Schell Maifest

Brewed by August Schell Brewing Company
Style: Heller Bock
New Ulm, Minnesota USA

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker, Stein

Pours a medium yellow color. Aromas of malts, something fruity, and some grass. Flavor malty and crisp with some nice hop finish.

From a 12 oz. long neck brown bottle with a blurb about the beer on the back label and a coded lot/package number on the shoulder of bottle. Made a good appearance, poured a clear golden amber with a large foamy golden white head that reduced to thin lacing and a small amount of ringed sticking. Had a fruity toffee aroma with traces of lemon and banana. Decent carbonation and a slick light bodied mouth feel, easy drinkability. Taste had a sweet and sour effect, at first sweet malty and banana followed by a sour lemon and orange zest with a very mellow bitterness, not exactly balanced, with a semi-dry sweet finish. An o.k. Maibock/Helles Bock, a little too light bodied with a mixed up taste, not smooth tasting.

got this in a trade and I can not find my paper on who sent it to me. but thanks who ever you are. from the bottle, poured a copper with a small white head that didn’t last very long. aroma there sure is some malts in there and hops, lemon. flavor a a like on the weak side malts and hops with a tanging lemon and a touch of molasses as it warmed. not to bad. session beer if I could get more.

Neutral fruit sweetness. Some apple and pear, light apricots. Good sweet malt character, caramel and wort esters. Light fruity hops, but mostly sweet and mellow with a hint of spice. Medium caramel-butterscotch amber, hazy, with thin dissipating off-white head. Medium watery body with heavy carbonation - almost fizzy. Gives a light carbonic burn. Starts with a good dose of malty sweetness. Caramel and burnt toffee, neutral fruits and wort, light lemon zest. Finish has a good dose of medium dryness, yeasty and with a little citrus-carbonic tang on top of some bitterness. Decent bock, though ends a bit watery. Aftertaste is pleasant though not entirely clean.

Poured from a bottle, this beer is a glowing copper color with tons of visible carbonation and a thin fizzy white head. The aroma is caramel apples and cinnamon sticks. The flavor has some sweet yellow apples, caramel, light honey and cinnamon sticks. The palate is over-carbonated. Way too lively to go with the flavors.

This particular style I’m not too familier with, but this beer seems to me to almost taste like a bad batch. I guess the its the specialty malts that I’m tasting, but personally I’m not a huge fan. It’s an okay beer and I’d take it over a fizzy yellow anyday.

UPDATED: MAR 7, 2007 Rerate: A gold orange pour. Some grape, butter, orange in the nose. Flavor is more of the same. I don’t think I noticed the grape before but it is clearly present. I like this beer because it goes against the norm. It’s got a unique flavor for sure. I am more impressed with the taste versus the aroma.

Original Rating Maibocks are one of my more favorite styles of beers (behind Pale Ales and IPA’s) so I am maybe a little bit biased on this one. Good flavor, appearance is orange with diminishing head and average lacing. A good flavor, definitely leans towards malty. Good carbonation. Overall a solid brew; a touch under the Summit (St. Paul) version.

Original Scores:
Aroma: 8
Apperance: 4
Flavor: 7
Palate: 5
Overall impression: 17
Total: 4.1

Golden and smooth, oh so golden and smooth, rich and strong but not the least alcoholic in taste. Great stuff.