Ale Asylum/Phine Tuned Photograp
Mai the Bock Be With You is Ale Asylum’s first ever attempt at a maibock. It’s being unveiled during Madison Craft Beer Week in the brewery’s taproom and a handful of local bars and taphouses. It was named to jibe with its appearance at Star Wars Night at the Malt House on Wednesday, May 4 (Star Wars Day, as in May the “Fourth” Be With You). The Malt House will even show the movie Star Wars on its patio at 9 p.m.
What is it? Mai the Bock Be With You from Ale Asylum Brewing of Madison.
Style: The name maibock refers to the springtime appearance (“Mai” = German for “May”) of this golden lager. It also goes by the name “helles” (German for “bright”), referring to the beer's pale color. These lagers are traditionally brewed in the dead of winter and aged until spring. A maibock is most often a golden to clear copper-colored beer with firm malty aroma and flavor. Hops provide accent and balance and can sometimes provide spiciness in the background. Maibocks are medium-bodied and overall a very clean tasting beer that commonly ranges from 6.5% to 7.5 % ABV.
Background: Mai the Bock Be With You is a limited-release beer from Ale Asylum. Brewmaster Dean Coffey isn’t making any promises to brew it again; however, this is a beer that certainly deserves consideration for the brewery’s seasonal rotation. If you’ve followed Ale Asylum over the years, you know that lagers are rare for this brewery. It brought back its other lager, a doppelbock called Bamboozleator, last month. (It hadn’t been made in over five years.) The brewery intends to release a traditional German Märzen (a lager in the Oktoberfest genre) by mid-August.
Lagers are an interesting path for this brewery that is often defined by Hopalicious, an assertive American pale ale. Also, it’s hard not to notice that the brewery even has “ale” in its name. “When Otto [Dilba] came to me with the Ale Asylum name for our brewery before opening in 2006, my first reaction was I knew someday we would want to do lagers,” says brewmaster Dean Coffey, a co-owner with Dilba in the brewery.
Coffey, along with brewers Chris Riphenburg and Joe Waltz, collaborated to come up with a recipe for a maibock that is just right for the month of May.
Coffey says his team set out to make a beer in what he considers the Bavarian tradition of maibock, a lager that is malt-forward yet balanced. “We wanted to do a beer in the true German way — that is, much dryer, not so malt-forward that it’s sticky-sweet,” he says. At the heart of the recipe is a combination of Pilsner, Munich and crystal malts, balanced with Sterling hops. “The most important thing you can do as a brewer is get out of the way of the malt, says Coffey, perhaps the secret for achieving a smooth balance of malt and hops.
Mai the Bock Be With You finishes at 6% ABV and is available only on draught. Watch for it to turn up on tap around Madison throughout Madison Craft Beer Week and a few weeks beyond.
Tasting notes:
Aroma: Light biscuity maltiness.
Appearance: Clear golden color. A modest-to-thick bubbly light tan head.
Texture: Medium-bodied, bubbly, round and soft.
Taste: Soft malt-forwardness. Smooth bready flavor with light herbal and spicy hoppiness in the background.
Finish/Aftertaste: Its firm but light maltiness blends so well with the crisp and spicy-Sterling hops that this beer has a remarkably dry and clean finish.
Glassware: I like the Willi Becher for the maibock because it focuses the malty aromas under the nose.
Pairs well with: The Maibock is a versatile meal companion, and especially nice with stews, sweeter meats, and sausages.
The Verdict: I know it might be heresy to fans of Hopalicious, but as long as this beer is on tap at the brewery, this is what I’m drinking. It delivers on my expectations for a tradition German maibock. It has a beautiful golden color and is medium-bodied. There’s a light, yet firm, bready, biscuit-maltiness that’s up front in the aroma and flavor. Its malt sweetness isn’t cloying or lingering. There’s just enough spicy-hoppiness to balance the beer and leave a crisp, dry and clean finish. This is a modestly strong beer at 6% ABV, yet it’s so clean and inviting, it seduces you to want a second pint. It is a wonderful example of how special the special releases of Madison Craft Beer Week have become.
