Four Seasons of Mother Earth - Winter 2024
Mother Earth Brew Co.

16oz can born on Christmas Eve, poured into a goblet...clear amber-ish copper with a finger of eggshell-colored head. The adjuncts are all present within the nose and soon the palate, there is a maple syrup quality throughout, good notes vanilla combining with caramel from the malt backbone, nice hints of spices here and there, cinnamon, alcohol warmth, mild fruitiness...its malt-heavy with those layers of caramel and toffee blending with maple and vanilla. Overall a tasty strong ale, warming and not quite one-dimensional.

the latest in this series, strong ale with maple, cinnamon, and vanilla, possibly not even barrel aged? i see no mention of that on their menu at the downtown taphouse, and i immediately like it not being a big stout, a little more room this way for the added ingredients to swim around and make happy little synergies without the big roasty malt taking over, neat call there, but like so many of these before it, its totally diabetic, sugar well past whats necessary for the flavors to work, and that limits this as much or more than the alcohol does, a shame really, but to be expected now with beers from this series, at least the non summer ones in recent years. actually rather light in color, maple toned actually, just light amber or deep copper, pretty clear and surprisingly bubbly too, even though the head doesnt last very long from the tap. the nose is nice, vanilla and cinnamon along with the generic malt sugar that carries it ahead of maple for me, but i like it, inviting, wintery indeed, and not all that heavy really. toffee and caramel, golden raisin and even dried red apple, not super complex, but cozy with some alcohol and the cinnamon together. the flavor does something similar, but the maple is part of the mix a little more, not overdone on anything except the vanilla and the residual sugar, all appears natural though, which i think is a step forward, if you like them sweet this is very pleasant. maybe a subtle whiskey note but i sometimes get cinnamon from certain whiskeys and it could be that, warm anyway, and i dont miss more malt heft or depth. maple stays late, a cream soda note, butterscotch. a little thin maybe for its size and flavor load, but its a good change of pace too, and i think overall this is fairly successful, even if i only want a little bit of it.