Spring is not quite done with us yet this year, and we have another old-world Maibock to, um, celebrate the fact.  Hofbräu is one of the oldest breweries in Munich, and claim this as that city’s first of the style. Weird tent-raising spectacle depicted on the label.

This 330ml bottle pours a crystal-clear, bright golden copper colour, with three chubbynfingers of bubbly, and loosely foamy dirty white head, which leaves nothing beyond some piddly, surface-broaching sudsy islet lace around the glass as it duly recedes.

It smells of lightly toasted, hefty bready caramel malt, a softer biscuity toffee sweetness, an herbal booziness, and some understated earthy, spicy hops. The taste is more big bready, biscuity caramel malt, pleasantly muddled bittersweet orchard fruit, a bit of dry yeast, and prominent earthy, leafy noble hops, all beholden to a well-structured alcohol warmth. The bubbles are adequate in their all-round, fulfilling frothy representation, the body a mealy medium weight, and tacitly smooth. It finishes off-dry, the sweetness of the somewhat besieged malt aided by that same edgy boozy interloper.

An agreeable enough Maibock, especially considering the higher than average ABV, good and malty, fruity, and not overwhelmed by said booze. Unfortunately, given the strength, this is not really a particularly good candidate for a session at a spartan wooden table, as it were.