In Dark Trees
Maplewood Brewery & Distillery

Incredible black color with ruby highlights when held to the light. The head is off-white, thick, rocky, and attractive. The aroma has a dark malt, toasted, almost light caramel scent. The taste is balanced, if not just a little dry. Flavorful and drinkable. I really enjoyed this one.

Pretty good
Not my usual style but I thought I would give it a try.
Very easy drinking. Actually not a lot of flavor to speak of but it leaves a pleasing barley malt flavor behind.
No alcohol warmth to speak of. Just a nice drink to enjoy

 

Looks good. Smells decent - some cola and chocolate. But tastes unusual. It's smoky with some chocolate but there's some flavor, especially in the finish, that reminds me of my granny's hard candies, hard to identify and mildly unpleasant. I can imagine some people liking this take on the style but I will pass on this in the future.

Maybe my sense of smell is on the wane, but again I'm getting only a faint scent when I pop the tab. Upon pouring into the glass, I get whiffs of browned sugar, a little smoke, a little chocolate, something sweet-sour like cotton candy that goes away as the three fingers of cafe latte foam does. Lifting the glass to the light, I can make some light out through the instant coffee color. Sour, bitter, astringent. These hit the tongue first. The bitter persists while the others damp down a bit. Almost like cola and coffee and sour like grapefruit rind or a very under-ripe pear. The flavor is going to knock this one down, and I'm not sure I'll finish it. I do have a pizza coming, so maybe that will help.

Pours a really dark burgundy-black with three fingers of fluffy tan foam. Aroma is heavy on malts, with toasty, bready, caramely, wafery, and mild earthy malts creating a semi-dry, dark lager aroma. Flavor profile is bready, wafery, toasty, and nutty malts with faint earthy malts and grassy, spicy hops. It's very bready, with a dark undertone. It finishes dry. Mouth feel is medium-thin with a fuzzy, semi-crisp texture that is broken up just a little bit by an inconsistent flow of effervescence. Overall, a tasty little number. Combines dark beer with Czech lager notes in a quaffable package.

Served in a 2023 AM membership glass from a 16oz can.

 

 

 

 

16oz can, dated 01.17.2023, poured into a 16oz tumbler glass.

The beer pours a dark cola brown color, garnet and burgundy hues with a foamy bone colored head that rises a few fingers tall with excellent retention and lacing. The aroma is nice, soft chocolate and amber malts, moderate roast, toasted coffee, and some yeasty floral character. The flavors are great, moderate roast, toasted chocolate and dark amber malt, cocoa, stone fruit, mineral water, yeasty esters, light earthy bitterness lingers. The mouthfeel is good, coating, lively lighter medium body, crisp and lightly dry finish.

Verdict: A nice Czech style Dark Lager from Maplewood. Lot's of complex and robust flavors that still feel approachable and easygoing in a 5% package.

 

Pours a dark cola brown with a generous amount of khaki-colored head that sticks around for quite a while, and leaves a decent lacing. Smell is dark roasted malts with a lot of char and a bit of smoke. Taste is super full and rich, with some cocoa notes, lots of char notes, and the deep, complex malt profile you might expect from a good stout. Of course, this is a lager, not a stout ale, and the body is more medium to light and not as heavy as a stout. Closes with a combination of bitterness from the hop and the dark malts, leaving a slightly bitter and burnt (in a good way) aftertaste. Seems a little overhopped, the bitterness builds up halfway through the beer. Mouthfeel is very bubbly up front with an astringent finish.

Reminds me a lot of the Schwarzbiers I've had. Pretty good beer.

Very nice looking pour, dark brown, big frothy head that lingered a bit some nice lacing. Snot machine gets some roasted malt, warm bread a bit of cocoa. Flavors are similar, more pronounced. A bit thin, nicely carbonated. My first Czech style Lager was excellent, I suspect I'll buy this again.

16oz can stamped 01/21/22 (3 months ago) poured into a becher glass at fridge temp 5% ABV. The beer pours opaque, medium brown in color with light brown head. The head recedes to an uneven ring and a few scattered bubbles. The aroma is mild with earthy unsweetened cocoa. The taste follows with earthy, roasty malt flavors. The mouthfeel is thin to medium bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, good.

 

 

 

Poured into shaker pint. Fat khaki head that stays, cola dark body.

Creamy malty nose.

Taste is sweet roasted malts and minty peppery hops, some dark chocolate notes.

Dry body with bitter carb bite.

Slightly overhopped, but enjoyable. Good rich malt roast.

16oz can. Poured out an opaque, dark, dark brown color with a small, off-white head of foam. It left sudsy trails of lace on the glass. It smelled of roasted malt, coffee, chocolate and caramel. Nice roasted taste with coffee, toasted malt and some mild bitterness.