Introducing 2024 Vintage Rainbock
Let’s face it beer is mostly for the drinking.
Those intriguing aromas of malt and hop that tease the nose before that white foam tickles your lips and the first gulp of golden liquid swirls around your mouth exciting your taste buds. Delicious. But as you pop your glass down and contemplate this wonder, before heading back in for the next mouthful, maybe take a moment to consider some of beer’s rich history. It’s, been around for hundreds, maybe thousands of years afterall and nowhere is the term ‘richness’ of history, more appropriate than in the world of Bocks.
EINBECK
Whist we now typically associate ‘bock’ styles with the Bavarian brewhouses, the term is thought to originate from the northern city of Einbeck. In the 1800’s, this region of Northern Germany was an early, fertile, ground for hop cultivation and that helped the ‘Einbeckkers’ build their reputation as brewers of the highest quality. The antiseptic qualities of hops, combined with the consistent quality, made their beers more transportable and much found its way down to Bavaria where beers were then, not so great. Over time it is believed the locals corrupted “Einbeck” to “Ein Bock” or (One Bock) and that name has now become synonymous with these wonderful strong malt forward beers from Bavaria.
Up until the 1800’s, all beers were dark in colour. By the mid 19th Century however, a new infatuation with chic pale beers, (largely originating from the English Pale Ale breweries), was sweeping across Europe. Hoffbrauhaus in Munich were the first brewery to combine this new desire for paler beers , with the characteristics of a bock, the family of malt forward , stong beers, brewed through the winter when the colder temperatures provided the necessary conditions, before the days of refridgeration. Having been brewed for May Day celebrations this new style of bock beer was understandably named Maibock (or May Bock).
In Bavaria, the home of Hoffbrauhaus, it has long been traditional to meet with friends at the ‘Biergarten’ and to socialise with beer and simple food. These large open spaces, typically shaded by trees with long shared tables, are still popular today but just like the UK pub garden , there is one big problem with the Biergarten . They’re too cold to use in winter and so most are closed.
Enter the Maibock. What better way to celebrate the reopening of the Biergarten and meeting up outdoors again, than with a rich, bready, and lightly hopped bock that has been gently conditioning over those long winter months and that’s exactly what Bavarians do .
“A celebration of the coming of Spring and the sign of better times ahead.”
Our Maibock has all these traditions at its heart and has its own rich history too. First brewed in January 2020 we had no idea of what lay shortly ahead. By the time it was ready to pack, after 3 months cold conditioning, we were all in lockdown. It felt right to dedicate the beer to all the wonderful people that were working so hard to look after us all in those difficult times, and at the time the Rainbow had become a symbol of love and respect for them. So we thought what better way to show our support than incorporating the Rainbow into the design, to name the beer Rainbock, and to donate £1 a can to the Devon Community Foundation Covid Fund.
Roll forward 12 months and the second brew in 2021 won gold in the SIBA National Digital Beer Awards and later that year won the country gold in that years World Beer Awards. We then gave the beer a rest for a year before re-introducing in 2023.
That year we had our biggest competition success yet in a major beer competition when the 2023 vintage was awarded the prestigious “International Best Maibock” award at the 2023 World Beer Awards. This was a fantastic and humbling experience for us as previous winners have included the Alfa Bier brewery in Holland (brewing since 1870) and the equally famous Grolsh brewery.
In those awards the judges description of the Rainbock was “"A golden beer with good head retention. The aromas are of light malt with hints of grassy hops and orange blossom. The taste is toasted malt sweet with warming hops and finishing dry." We couldn’t have put it better ourselves.
Brewed in the depths of winter and conditioned for 3 months our 2024 Vintage pays homage to not just this classic style but the principle of looking forward to spring and beyond and hopefully better times ahead. We think this is perfect time to do just that, and we are delighted to announce the forthcoming release of our 2024 vintage.
Still the same classic Maibock with just a few little tweaks on the hops to keep it interesting. Traditionally brewed using a double decoction mash using all UK grown malt and hops. Its tasting glorious. Bread crust, slightly sweet with a pleasant light citrus from the hops.
Launching across the UK in pubs, bars, bottle shops and online on Thursday 25th April 2024
Available in Keg of Can for pre-order now either direct orders@utopianbrewing.com or via James Clay and Eebria.
