Happy May Day. Go out and celebrate the workers of the world (if you’re really into Propaghandi) or Walpurgisnacht (if you prefer Sabbath). Either way, drink a Maibock.

Think of Maibock as sort of the traditional German equivalent of malt liquor. It’s light in color and body, sweet and dangerously high in alcohol. Unlike malt liquor, though, the taste is bright and clean, with lots of spice and caramel and fruit and a very slight bitterness at the end. And since the “Mai” in maibock is, just as you’d expect, German for the month of May when the beer is traditionally served, it really is the perfect beer for the spring; it’s light and drinkable enough for grilling or just hanging out on the porch in the afternoon, and strong enough to keep you warm at night.

So, in celebration of season, some friends and I gathered the other night for an informal Maibock sampling. The beers we tried were Stoudt’s Blonde Double Mai Bock, Victory St. Boisterous, Rouge Dead Guy Ale, Smuttynose Maibock and Summit Maibock. And since the marketing department at Corona has managed to turn Cinco de Mayo into an annoying white people drinking day, I figured it was my duty to test out how these beers would taste with fake Mexican food – specifically a tofu and sweet potato burrito from Mexicali in West Philly. Rankings and reviews after the jump.

The Rankings:

Rouge Dead Guy Ale
Rogue Ales Brewery / Brewer’s on the Bay, Portland OR
6.5% Alcohol by Volume
The wild card of the bunch, this not only had the lowest alcohol content, it was brewed as an ale rather than a lager. It had less intensity up front than some of the others, but captured first place with endlessly deep and roasty caramel flavors. It was the beer I kept coming back to, and when I finished it, I wanted another. Also, it got an A++ at washing down my burrito. I can only imagine how much it would rule with pizza.

Smuttynose Maibock:
Smuttynose Brewing Company, Portsmith NH
7.7% ABV
This was the fruity one. Definitely the most intense and complex, it really shined as it warmed up. It comes only in 22 oz bottles, and between the intense sweetness and noticeably high alcohol content, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to get through two of them.

Stoudt’s Blonde Double Mai Bock:
Stoudt’s Brewing Company, Adamstown PA
7.0% ABV
Whereas the Smuttynose showcased the sweet, fruity end of the style, the Stoudts showed off the other extreme: a peppery spice almost reminiscent of a Belgian trippel. The spice, coupled with a lot of alcohol up front knocked down the drinkability on this one and made it a poor burrito accompaniment. It would probably be best served with greasy, grilled sausages.

Victory St. Boisterous & Summit Maibock:
Victory Brewing Company, Downtingtown, PA
Summit Brewing Company, St. Paul MN
7.4 & 7.0% ABV
Sometimes when you drink a lot of beer, you do stupid things. In my case, I mixed up the Victory and the Summit. I poured them both into glasses, and promptly forgot which was which. Fortunately, they were the two weakest beers of the evening, so you should be ok if you just avoid them both. One of them came off as a watered down, boring version of the Smuttynose. The other one was something of a disaster – It was the lightest in everything and the most prominent flavor was DMS, the out of place vegetable taste you get in beers like Stella Artois and Heineken.