Magpie Maple Porter
Brasserie Saint James

 

a very drinkable and tasty porter, with some maple to it but not forced or desserty to me, its subtle, a nice balance and counterpoint to the bitterness of the dark grains, but not too much at all, its hardly even sweet past the middle, but has some nice depth of flavor, is quite autumnal, and definitely is not what i am used to from these guys, i thought it was all belgian stuff and wild beers, cool so see them do something like this so well too. the maple is natural in here, well behind the dark roasted grain and the chocolate malt, not overly thick or dense either, drinks almost more like a brown ale, flavorful and malty but nothing intense at all. the maple is worked in well, but largely fermented out is seems. i love maple syrup, so i would almost always vote for more of it in a beer, but i like the subtle nature of this, it makes the beer really drinkable and captivating, like i dont want to st the glass down because i dont want the maple to go away at all. some nice coffee and chocolate character here too, but its all pretty simple and straightforward. a yeast strain without much flavor surprises me too from these guys. overall i enjoyed this a lot, unexpected from what i know about this operation, but they did a good job with it.