All of the Maple
My tasting group got together for another themed tasting. This time we went with maple beers. I don’t have a lot of experience with maple in beer, but I’m pretty indifferent about it. It is neither good nor bad. After the tasting I can say that maple in beer, when done correctly, is simply jaw-dropping. At other times, it simply doesn’t contribute much.
Pretty ambitious for 6 people methinks.
Lawson’s Finest Liquids – Fayston Maple Imperial Stout: Not really a fan of this beer. Really nothing special about it. C+
Lawson’s Finest Liquids – Maple Barrel Aged Fayston Maple Imperial Stout: This beer is awesome, the maple barrel completely changes it. Roasty but not overly so due to the sweetness imparted on the beer from the barrel. A-
Lawson’s Finest Liquids – Oak Aged Fayston Maple Imperial Stout: I did not like this beer at all. I felt like I was chewing burnt pieces of tree. C-
Lawson’s Finest Liquids – Maple Trippel: Best beer of the day by far. It was absolutely stunning, I haven’t had too many beers better than this one, and nothing that I’ve had that uses maple as an ingredient comes even close. Stellar beer and I plan to be trading for some soon. A+
Founders CBS: Another delicious beer. I have not had this release yet, but it’s better than I remember. In my opinion, this beer has the perfect amount of maple for use in a stout. Nice and sweet, but not cloyingly so (looking at you Dark Lord!) A
Midnight Sun Berserker 2009 – Old, but still great. Didn’t stand up to CBS , but when I came back around to this bottle, it was delicious. Less maple presence than CBS, but that might be attributed to age. A-
Dogfish Head 75 Minute – a good change of pace, but this beer just didn’t stand up to the hopslam that we had earlier that day. B
Alesmith Decadence – Nothing particularly stands out here, but maple and barleywine play together okay. Barleywines are sweet enough as it is, so I had a difficult time tasting the maple among the caramel notes of the beer. A-
Sierra Nevada Life and Limb Batch 1 – This beer was better than batch 2, but that’s all I can really say. I was suffering from some serious palette fatigue at this point. B+
Bruery Otiose – Not a maple beer, but a sour guava beer. I really enjoyed it, but I don’t know if its because it was so different from everything else or because I simply like guava. A-
Bruery Acer Quercus – Nope. Smells good, but doesn’t deliver. B-
Bruery Autumn Maple 2009 & 2010 – 2009 was significantly better than 2010, but both beers just taste like I’m drinking sweet potatoes. My friend Matt from college would absolutely love these beers. He’s a big sweet potato guy. C+
Founders Better Half – surprisingly tasty, and nothing like I was expecting. A nice bit of bourbon barrel to go with the sweetness from the molasses/maple syrup. B+/A-
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