Maple Brown Ale
Imperial City Brew House

473 mL can from the brew house; dated Apr 20 2022 and served barely chilled.

Pours a clear copper-bronze colour, capped with one inch of foamy, off white-coloured head that settles off within the next several minutes; a creamy collar of generous proportion lives on. Maple candy on the nose, with lesser hints of caramelized malts, candy apple and molasses - not exactly complex, but it meets expectations well enough.

It's palatable: quite saccharine of course, but with a few tricks up its sleeve to keep things interesting (or maybe just tolerable, depending on your perspective). Toasted biscuit, milk sugar, caramelized sugars and maple syrup at the forefront, with the latter persisting 'til the end of the sip; hints of molasses, chocolate powder and a hint of roastiness round out the back end; more maple syrup flavour in the aftertaste, along with a hint of something herbal/woodsy. Medium in body, with middling carbonation that softly prickles the palate, contributing to a smooth, frothy mouthfeel. Reasonable drinkability for what it is - one can per night is plenty for me, but those with a sweet tooth might be able to soldier on for another round or two.

Final Grade: 3.62, an acceptable B grade. Imperial City's Maple Brown Ale isn't my cup of tea, but for a 'maple beer' I think it's a serviceable effort. The maple might be just a teensy bit overdone for my tastes, but I suppose that's better than being underutilized. It doesn't totally overwhelm the base brown (lagered) ale, but it's unbalanced enough to mar the experience somewhat, at least for me. Worth a try at the very least, but I would take their Honey Brown over this nine times out of ten.