Review of Upland Brewing Company Maibock

Posted By Zach Tuesday, 31 May 2011 20:29

We haven’t done a review of an Upland beer in quite awhile, so I figured I might as well do one since there is easy access to their beer. The Upland Maibock has been one of my favorites of theirs and happened to be sitting in the fridge. In case you are getting bored of real beer reviews, Ice House is probably next on the agenda. Or maybe one of the malts we have sitting around. Anyway, read on to see what Upland Maibock is all about.

Taste: A- From the first sip you get a good hit of malt on your tongue. Of course, with any good maibock, you’d expect this. I’m a big fan of malty flavor and not a huge hophead, so this is right up my alley. After you get that malt, it is followed up by a sweet flavor that coats your tongue a bit.  This is not a lingering, terrible aftertaste, so it is a good thing. There is a hint of hops there, but nothing overwhelming. If you love maltiness, this is your beer.

Packaging: B This is some decent packaging, but nothing amazing. It has a light blue background that appears to be what I’m guessing is a German forest ghosted back. The Upland logo is right in the middle with two goats on their hind legs flanking it. This seems to be similar to Celebrator, but certainly not a direct rip-off. There is also writing that indicates this is a seasonal beer and that it is a Bavarian-Style Lager. One thing that most of regular Uplands don’t include is the ABV, which is kind of annoying, but not a major fault.

Value: B+ It seems a little hard to rate value on most microbrews as they all have a similar cost of around $8.99 for a six-pack. Since this isn’t totally cheap, but not expensive, it gets a B. You can also find it on sale for $8.49 or even $7.99 on a rare occasion.  It is slightly higher up the alcohol scale when doesn’t mean a ton, but given all the malts we review, we like to help you know the value if you want to get shit-faced.

Drunkeness: B This is pretty good on the drunk scale. The Upland Maibock came in at a nice 6.4%. Not great, but decent, especially given the drinkability of this beer. You can easily put down a sixer in a night and have a good buzz going. It isn’t going to fuck you up, but fun nonetheless. I think we all know by now the top choices for really fucking your shit up.

Overall: A- Overall, the 2011 edition of the Upland Maibock lives up to what I have come to expect. I haven’t seen this on draft in a ton of places, so hopefully it is selling well enough to keep it on their seasonal list. I have to say I’m partial to the German style beers, especially a good bock, so my results may be skewed. However, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this brew to anyone who loves a good, easy-drinking malty beer.