Trail Blaze Maple Brown Ale
Appalachian Brewing Company

This is a fun beer. I was excited to try it, and when I did, I wasn't blown away like I thought I might be, but it was worth sipping on in a flight and it wasn't bad in any way.

I think the whole color, mouth feel, etc thing has already been well covered in the other reviews. I do love this beer. I have been to one of their restaurants and both all the brews and the food are tremendous. That being said and knowing each individual taste buds are different, I got more of the traditional classic brown ale taste out of this one personally. I think they need to up the maple if it’s indeed going to be a maple brown. However, if you’re looking for the more classic brown, this one more than suffices. It’s generally a great beer, but I was missing the maple. I certainly would drink it again though, hence the good rating.

 

 

I attended the BCCA Spring Thaw in Mechanicsburg, PA this past weekend and I was pleasantly surprised by all of the beer that was available! This was handed to me on either Thursday or Friday night & when my CouchSurfing host & I did not have a chance to drink it, I brought it home.

From the bottle: "A Rich Brown with Shades of Maple."; "Proud to be an American Craft Brewery!"; "Please keep our neighborhoods and natural areas clean and litter free!"

It surprised me by being another screw-top bottle! Grr. I Pop!ped the cap out of ignorance, but the heavy-handed pour was born of frustration. This raised a finger of foamy, light-tan head with moderate retention. Color was Brown to Dark Brown (SRM = > 22, < 27) with NE-quality clarity. Nose was really sweet, sort of syrupy, with a light smokiness. Mouthfeel was medium. The taste was very sweet, very reminiscent of maple syrup with a light smokiness in the mouth. I am not going to mince words here. This was far too sweet to be enjoyable for my hophead mentality. Finish was very sweet, very much like maple syrup & enough to plant the seeds of an oncoming headache.

 

 

 

 

 

 

11/5...Pours a deep rich brown with a creamy foam lid. Nutty bready nose, hints of the maple. Smooth caramel nutty taste. Clean kouthfeel, very low carbonation. Smooth. Cola like flavors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look: Very deep brown color with a white creamy head, which fades quickly.

Smell: Brown sugar, caramel, maple syrup. Overall a lot of sweetness.

Taste: Very roasty flavors. Along with caramel, maple and sugars.

Feel: Medium feel, medium carbonation.