Helles Bock (Maibock)
Helles Bock, or Maibock: a pale, strong, malty German lager of 6.3–7.4%, drier and hoppier than other bocks, a beer for spring. Strength, bitterness, glass and classic examples.
A Helles Bock pours deep gold to light amber, bright, under a large, creamy white head. It tastes of grainy-sweet, bready, lightly toasted malt, with a moderate bitterness and often a spicy, herbal or floral hop flavour, and finishes fairly dry. It is strong, 6.3–7.4%, but stays easy to drink.
Where it comes from
It is the youngest of the bocks, and Germans pour it in spring, especially in May, hence Maibock. The bock family itself began in Einbeck, whose strong beer the Munich court bought from 1555; in 1614 the Hofbräuhaus hired a brewmaster from Einbeck, and the Bavarian name for the beer, Ainpöckisch, became Bock.
Brewers mix Pilsner, Vienna and Munich malts, with German hops and a clean lager yeast; a decoction mash is traditional, kept short to hold the colour down.
How to serve it
Pour it at 7–13 °C into a goblet. It goes with ham, a Swiss cheese or white chocolate cheesecake.
Next to its neighbours
It is a pale dunkles bock, or a Munich Helles or Festbier brewed to bock strength: drier, hoppier and more bitter than a dark bock, and weaker than a pale doppelbock.
Helles Bock (Maibock) in numbers
- Classic examples
- Einbecker Brauhaus, Brauerei Aying (Ayinger), Hofbräu München, Hacker-Pschorr, Birra Forst, Estrella Galicia (Hijos de Rivera), Compañía Cervecera de Canarias (Dorada and Tropical)
- Original gravity
- 1.064–1.072
- Final gravity
- 1.011–1.018
- Also called
- Maibock, heller Bock
- Food
- Ham; Swiss cheese; white chocolate cheesecake
- Classic examples
- Einbecker Mai-Urbock; Ayinger Maibock; Hofbräu Maibock; Hacker-Pschorr Hubertus Bock; Mahr’s Heller Bock; Altenmünster Maibock
- BJCP style
- 4C Helles Bock
Sources
Checked .
- 4C. Helles Bock, 2021 Beer Style Guidelines — Beer Judge Certification Program
- German-Style Heller Bock/Maibock — CraftBeer.com, Brewers Association
