Maize-A-Faire
The Tap Brewing Company

 

 

16 oz. can

Pours fizzy clear straw yellow gold with lots of carbonation and a frothy white foam head. Smells like clean lemony floral citrus, some corn, honey bready malts, mild spice, with earthy herbal grassy pine. Tastes like fresh corn, honey bready malt, floral lemony citrus, some spice, with earthy herbal grassy pine. Feels light bodied, slightly creamy and crisp with moderate carbonation. Overall a real nice light lager.

Here comes another entry into the slow-starting but inevitable "fight it from within" craft light lager renaissance! The Tap is an awesome and underrated brewery and I didn't really see this one coming from them but it's a really good deal and a great beer regardless so it deserves a solid review. The audacity and irony of making an American Light Lager as a craft brewery is not lost on me, but they do something great with it without compromising themselves or going outside the box too much with this one.

Pours a clear golden color with a taught head of foamy white bubbles that actually has some solid lace and sticks together for quite a while. Nice look for a style that rarely has any highlights to it. Bringing traditional "beer reviewing" elements into a discussion about one of the main things craft beer is lashing back against feels weird to me, but what the hell? This is a really solid looking brew.

Nose is mostly sweaty, crackery grains with a hefty amount of corn/flaked maize in there, lending a sweet and "artificial" sweetness. I put that in quotes because it's clearly not actually artificial, but it seems that way due to the association we create automatically with this kind of beer. From a first impression, this would be a really good one to introduce macro drinkers to craft beer. This does have a little bit more earthy and honeyed malt character in the nose than the usual ALL does, so keep that in mind if you're trying to sell people on this.

Flavor is straight corn with solid, semi-lingering sweetness and an almost tannic vanilla/honey note to it. Wildflower honey in particular is the main note I pick up on the tastebuds, with crackery malt and light herbal hoppiness. No yeast notes present at all. Very true to style, maybe a bit too flavorful (and expensive) for some macro people, but those who are truly open-minded will probably find something to like or love here.

Feel is oily and rather slick with some residual sweetness on the tongue. Not as dry as expected, which is a good thing. Palate is fuller bodied than the usual "light lager," drinking more like a 5% beer than a 4.5% beer but maybe that's splitting hairs. Liking the honeyed malt here as it lends some credibility and uniqueness. Good stuff from The Tap!

On-tap 11/6/2016 at Flynn’s in Mansfield, MA, served in a tapered pint glass.

A: The beer is a light gold color, with a large white head that fades slowly and leaves a thick lace on the glass.

S: The aroma contains corn, grain, light caramelized malts and a faint touch of hops.

T: The taste starts out very bready with a strong corn flavor up front (as the name implies) along with lager yeast and a thin malt character. The hops presence is decent for the style and brings a good balance. The after-taste is likewise slightly bready.

M: Crisp and smooth, light-to-medium body, medium carbonation, finish is clean.

O: A little tasty, goes down quite easily, not too filling, mild kick, very good representation of style, this is definitely one of the better beers I’ve had in the style.