Sugar Shack Ale
Barley Days Brewery
- From:
- Barley Days Brewery
- Ontario, Canada
- Style:
- Herb and Spice Beer
- ABV:
- 5.5%
- Score:
- 81
- Avg:
- 3.3 | pDev: 18.18%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 4
- Status:
- Inactive
- Rated:
- Apr 06, 2015
- Added:
- May 14, 2008
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 1
SCORE
81
Good
81
Good
Brewed only in March with locally produced maple syrup, this ale has a bouquet of rich fruity aromas and maple. Its thick, sweet body is perfectly complemented by a moderately-hopped finish. The careful carbonation results in a light lofty mouth feel.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Reviewed by trxxpaxxs from New York
3.38/5 rDev +2.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
3.38/5 rDev +2.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Thanks to Stephen for this bottle...
A: Pours a deep mahogany brown with red hues around the edges. There is a huge light khaki colored head that settles slowly over time.
S: This beer smells really yeasty and vinous. It almost reminds me of communion wine. In fact, it makes me wonder if this bottle is having some infection/refermentation issues.
T: It starts out a little funky up front. That communion wine like taste to completely evident. But holy wow, the maple syrup comes on strong right after. It's huge sweetness, maple, and caramelized sugar. The finish is maple mixed with the funk. Surprisingly, it's not terrible.
M: Medium bodied beer. The funk is a bit hard to handle, but the maple sweetness coats the palate and lingers for a bit. It makes this beer a bit more tolerable.
O: This bottle is definetly having issues, but it still isn't an awful beer. I'd love to try this again fresh and get a feel for how it's supposed to taste.
Mar 24, 2012A: Pours a deep mahogany brown with red hues around the edges. There is a huge light khaki colored head that settles slowly over time.
S: This beer smells really yeasty and vinous. It almost reminds me of communion wine. In fact, it makes me wonder if this bottle is having some infection/refermentation issues.
T: It starts out a little funky up front. That communion wine like taste to completely evident. But holy wow, the maple syrup comes on strong right after. It's huge sweetness, maple, and caramelized sugar. The finish is maple mixed with the funk. Surprisingly, it's not terrible.
M: Medium bodied beer. The funk is a bit hard to handle, but the maple sweetness coats the palate and lingers for a bit. It makes this beer a bit more tolerable.
O: This bottle is definetly having issues, but it still isn't an awful beer. I'd love to try this again fresh and get a feel for how it's supposed to taste.
Reviewed by liamt07 from Canada (ON)
3.21/5 rDev -2.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
3.21/5 rDev -2.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Bottle brought by Steve, shared with him and Sammy. 341ml into a tulip.
Pours a deep purple/burgundy with some mahogany highlights capped with a massive 4+ finger khaki head that stays around for the duration of the serving. Nose of sweet, sweet maple, brown sugar and some ripe red delicious apple. Taste was a cloyingly sweet maple and brown sugar, accurately reflecting and enhancing my expectations based on the nose. Again a light red apple character comes through. Mildly prickly carbonation and a thinner mouthfeel than I would've liked. Drinkability is hindered by the cloying sweetness, and even further so by an immense residual sweetness that seemed to hang around forever. Not my cup of tea.
May 26, 2011Pours a deep purple/burgundy with some mahogany highlights capped with a massive 4+ finger khaki head that stays around for the duration of the serving. Nose of sweet, sweet maple, brown sugar and some ripe red delicious apple. Taste was a cloyingly sweet maple and brown sugar, accurately reflecting and enhancing my expectations based on the nose. Again a light red apple character comes through. Mildly prickly carbonation and a thinner mouthfeel than I would've liked. Drinkability is hindered by the cloying sweetness, and even further so by an immense residual sweetness that seemed to hang around forever. Not my cup of tea.
Reviewed by Sammy from Canada (ON)
3.25/5 rDev -1.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
3.25/5 rDev -1.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
Cloying sweet. Average mouthfeel. Wafting sugar aromas, also wood and mollasses in the nose. Big foaming head, lacey. The sasaprilla of rootbeer. Bit light mouthfeel.
Some caramel, but needs more body. A novelty, really.Thanks for sharing Stephen Rich.
May 22, 2011Some caramel, but needs more body. A novelty, really.Thanks for sharing Stephen Rich.
Reviewed by bobsy from Canada (ON)
3.87/5 rDev +17.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 4
3.87/5 rDev +17.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 4
Described as: Made with Vader's Maple Syrup and created especially for "Maple in the County Festival". Sugar Shack Ale, made with local maple syrup, is available in early spring. This beer also showed up in Toronto as well as in bottles from the brewery. I had it on tap at Volo.
Deep copper body with a medium tan coloured head. The sweet, malty aroma is full of caramel. Nice clarity and depth of colour to the body, but the head retention and lacing lets the appearance down somewhat. Sweet aroma of caramel drizzled bananas and little else isn't exactly complex, but sure is tempting. The flavour has the caramel upfront, banana in the middle and maple in the lightly bitter finish. Nicely balanced, and not too sweet. One thing I've noticed with maple in beer is that it seems to produce a number of flavours that go beyond that distinctive maple taste. Light mouthfeel with relatively low to carbonation. Easy drinking seasonal right here, and the maple gives it the perfect Canadian twist.
May 14, 2008Deep copper body with a medium tan coloured head. The sweet, malty aroma is full of caramel. Nice clarity and depth of colour to the body, but the head retention and lacing lets the appearance down somewhat. Sweet aroma of caramel drizzled bananas and little else isn't exactly complex, but sure is tempting. The flavour has the caramel upfront, banana in the middle and maple in the lightly bitter finish. Nicely balanced, and not too sweet. One thing I've noticed with maple in beer is that it seems to produce a number of flavours that go beyond that distinctive maple taste. Light mouthfeel with relatively low to carbonation. Easy drinking seasonal right here, and the maple gives it the perfect Canadian twist.
We love reviews (150 characters or more)! Check out: How to Review a Beer. You don't need to get fancy. Drop some thoughts on the beer's attributes (look, smell, taste, feel) plus your overall impression. Something that backs up your rating and helps others. Thanks!