Sticke Shift
MAP Brewing Co.

Poured from a crowler filled on 31 March; thanks Scott for bringing it back! Pours a deep mahogany color with full, frothy head. Nose is bready with a bit of earthy hops. Taste is nice, rounded with light roasted malt and a considerable hop bitterness for style. Very drinkable and refreshing, although a bit less hops would make this one more authentic to the Dusseldorf style.

a well enough made beer all told, but pretty tamed down, and maybe not the most compelling first impression. its odd, because all the beer here was pretty good, and the midas crush was absolutely outstanding, but there was a huge variance in safe and generic compared with evolved and adventurous. this was one of the more gentle beers they had, clear copper color with a short and short lived just off white airy bubbly head. the aroma is sweeter malt, a faint german yeast type, some dried red apples, and minerals. a little honey sweetness in the flavor, not as dry as i like the style to be, and definitely under carbonated. i like the malt flavor, nutty and european and a tad sweet, but there really isnt enough of the classic essence of the style here, more of an american amber with a sexier name, less of the alt style, at least as far as the flavor profile is concerned. not a bad pint of beer though, easy drinking and with a little body still for the chilly montana autumn. i had a great visit here, but this was not at all their most inspired offering here at map.

edit: this has been brewed again, much better this time, in the fall of 2025, some nine years after i first reviewed it. they are incorporating local malt now, which adds an awful lot of interest to this, and i think the overall refinement is quite a lot higher, just progress over time really, its clean and quick, more lager-like now, and with way better carbonation and head retention. the malt really is lovely, deeply earthy, toasty, and warm, with a sort of granola note to it, and some distinctive minerality, very well built now, in a way it really wasnt before. improving scores across the board to better reflect the current quality, they have come quite a ways with this one...