Maple Porter
St. Lawrence Brewing Company

 

 

since I pretty much love everything maple, I loved this one, but it has some interesting features for sure. looks as much like a brown as a porter, with an amber glow to it and none of that dense dark roast color, plenty of light coming in and not a lot of head at all in the pint glass. the nose on this is nice, slightly burnt and has a thick maple sweetness with hints of honey and nuttiness, its nice in the smell. the taste is sweet, but not too much maple or residuals happening, its dosed just right with the grain, but more intense grain would allow for more intense maple, and the more maple the better in my opinion. plenty of body too, dense for the color, but its nice beer, easy drinking for what it is, even in the summer. weird to me that its so strong, I would not have guessed this strength at all, it drinks so much lighter its crazy, I would have thought 6% at most. the maple ends up being pretty authentic and comes through, but this could be more vibrant, and the roast could be ramped up. pretty under carbonated, but no big deal in this style. a great surprise on tap at indian bay marina, and a brewery I would like to experience a bit more of. when did these guys get started, I feel like I have never heard of them until now...

The initial taste has a nice hop bite and while drinking the beer has a nice mouth feel and a smooth taste. There is no hint of Maple anywhere in the drink and this beer is strong enough to be a Stout. In fact it reminded me of a coffee stout. What ruined the experience for me was the metallic after taste, which was quite strong. If I drank right after a mouthful of food this was covered fairly well. However, when I drank the beer by itself for a uninterrupted tasting it was overpowering. I think this beer has a lot of potential but somewhere in the recipe or process it falls short.

 

 

 

 

Visually this beer delivers: rich, chocolate-brown, and opaque, with a thick cap of tan foam topping it all off. The aroma is somewhat strange however, with dark malt, wet leather, a hint of cocoa, and a slightly sour raisin note. No sign of maple either. Medium-bodied, the flavor is dominated by a tangy, metallic taste that lingers into the finish. Bitterness emerges late into the sip, with an almost burnt flavor. Overall, I wanted a smoother, creamier porter with more character. This one needs work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black body and a thick creamy white head.

I found some roasty cocoa and nuttiness in the nose, unfortunately I also found something metallic and off.

The taste is the same, there are some decent porter characteristics here, but I didn't find any maple syrup. The metallic finish was off putting.

This just isn't very good beer.