When you start exploring the world of beer, the first thing you’ll notice is that there are hundreds of different styles of beer. Each of these beer styles can be traced back to a particular geographical location and some particular time in history before mass production and global transportation homogenized tastes. It used to be common for a small village to have its own brewer and its own particular kind of beer. And in those little villages, the brewers would brew with different ingredients depending on what time of year it was and adapt their brewing methods to the season’s changing temperatures.
Many craft breweries in the United States have embraced the historic brewing traditions and so you’ll be able to find modern interpretations of beer styles that originated far away and long ago.
Germany is known for its many styles of lager and Maibock (MAY-bock) is the kind of beer that Germans drink at this time of year at festivals welcoming the arrival of Spring. As the name would suggest, Maibock is the beer for the month of May.
Maibocks are light in color, but are strongly flavored, usually having more hop character than other German styles. Also, Maibocks are higher in alcohol than your everyday drinking beer (which is a characteristic of any “bock” beer).
If you are interested in trying a Maibock, look for the RPAB (Rocky Point Artisan Brewers) Maibock at taps near you.
