Holsten Maibock

It has been my experience that any beer with the word "bock" in the name is going to be a giant can of misery. I have tried many bock beers over the years and have never once found one I would like to drink again. Spying this one at the Ajax LCBO, I thought it would be an excellent subject for review. Holsten Brewery (a fully owned subsidiary of The Carlsberg Group) was founded in northern Germany in 1953. The actual brewery webpage is written completely in German, and as such could not be used as a source of information. However, I did find a webpage that had this to say about the brand:

Holsten is one of the Carlsberg Group's biggest brands.

Holsten was first developed and produced by the Holsten Brewery in Northern Germany in 1953. Since then it has expanded to many other markets, primarily in Europe, and today you can experience the great taste of Holsten Pilsener in many countries around the globe.

Where does the Holsten name come from?

Once upon a time a Germanic tribe called the "Holsten" lived in northern Germany in the region that is now called Holstein. According to the "Chronica Slavorum", written in the 12th century, the Holsten were described as a freedom-loving, bull-headed and very hospitable people. Perhaps the founders of the Holsten-Brauerei AG had these characteristics in mind when they christened their brewery in 1879.

Upon arriving at Brian's, I handed the can to him as Michelle asked "is that a maibock?" Apparently, the two of them are big fans of this brewing style and were looking forward to the experience. Brian stated that due to the usually high alcohol content of maibock in general (Holsten Maibock weighs in at 7% abv), they are perfect for getting a glow on before seeing a movie. We chilled the beer and poured it out. The brew was amber, clear and had no odour whatsoever. The flavour was pleasant with a slight alcohol burn. However, if the beer had been slightly colder, I doubt you would have been able to detect it. "It doesn't stab you in the mouth like other high-percentage beer," remarked Brian as Michelle simply said, "I'd drink it again."

Hello Kitty Beer

This isn't a review, although if anybody would like to send us some to try, we would willingly accept it with open arms. That's a given with anything though, barring shoe polish, Aquavelva and Labbat's Blue.

Here at Liquor Pig, we are of two minds about Beck's, I am fond of it due to the fact that I cut my teeth on stealing Beck's from my father during my teen years. I find as grown man, I crave what I used to choke down.

While our humble blog's creator did not grow up with Beck's and likens it's taste to the urine that's filling the troughs of any Oktoberfest celebration. To each his own but he's totally wrong about Beck's.

We are in agreement however, that neither of us would be caught dead drinking fricking Hello Kitty Beer at any place but the privacy of our own basements.

I wonder if Beck's plans a macho male equiviliant to this, like one that uses Ultra-Man or that cool guy from Star Blazers. You know, the guy with the G-Force hair...

-BraiN

Link Stolen from Topless Robot

Aecht Schlenferla Rauchbier

Being a sucker for pretty packaging (as well as being unable to read German), I picked this one up at random from the LCBO last night. Perhaps there is something to be said about purchasing foreign beers without any idea of what they may contain, as this one was one of the weirdest concoctions yet reviewed. Upon arriving at my cousin's house, further study of the product found this on the label:

Original Schlenkerla Smokebeer. Following time-honoured malting and brewing traditions, the strong smoky flavour of Original Schlenkerla Smokebeer is achieved by exposing the malt to the intense, aromatic smoke of burning beechwood logs at the Schlenkerla malthouse. After the brew in classic copper kettles, it matures in the historic cellars deep underneath Bamberg to become a unique smoky beer experience.

Being a lover of fine single-malt Scotch whiskey, I am quite familiar with the practice of smoking barley with peat prior to brewing and distilling good Scotch, but why would anyone try this with beer? Would it prove to be a unique, tasty beverage, or another nightmare to be sinked? Nervously, I uncapped it and poured it into two glasses. The dark ale was clear and smelled like beef jerky, which gave rise to Rob's cry of "ach, das schtinkant!" Pushing through the smoky aroma, we raised our glasses and drank. This stuff literally tasted like beef jerky soaked in Guinness, with a very long smoky finish. Aside from the novelty of being smoky and "beefy", the taste was extremely one-dimensional, and was reminscent of a smoky OXO cube dissolved in water. The hardest part about drinking this was the smell. While smoky Islay Scotch has a pleasant smoky scent, this stuff reeks like the shell of a burned-out Flint, Michigan housing project. If you can get past the strong smell, it is an interesting novelty but not one I would like to experience again soon. Fans of beef jerky might actually enjoy this, but in my experience this is more suited to daring your friends to chug at drunken frat parties.