Game Day Beer Review: Brooklyn Brewery Mary's Maple English Porter

Porter has never stood out as one of my favorite beer styles, despite its association with George Washington and the American Revolution.  Nevertheless, I made a mental note to seek out Mary's Maple Porter from the Brooklyn Brewery when I saw it for sale, and I'm very glad I did.  In part I was enticed because maple syrup seems to be today's trendy beer ingredient, finding its way into more and more offerings, and it's easy to see why: it tastes damn good with beer.

Spotted on tap in Fort Lauderdale, Mary's Maple Porter was brewed with the addition of a decent amount of the aforementioned maple syrup, and its release notes say that the syrup brings out a "complex interplay with caramel, chocolate, and coffee flavors from [the] blend of roasted malts."

What I'll say is the following: Mary's Maple Porter was poured into a snifter, and appeared a solid dark brown.  The beer also featured a massive mocha-colotred head, as shown in the photo above.
The beer's smell was a bit difficult to pin down, but if pressed I would say it featured a subdued chocolate scent, with maybe just the slightest scent of hops also apparent.

It was sweet from the outset of the tasting, with a definite syrup flavor on the finish. I feel like I just had breakfast, but boy did I like it.  Mary's featured a nice bit of carbonation, which gave it a good mouthfeel, and made it easy to drink.  So much so that I wanted another...which I then had!: A

Game Day Beer Review: Brooklyn Brewery Post Road Pumpkin Ale

(5.00% ABV).  It's that time of year when the weather begins to change, even if it's altered by just that little bit here in the American south.  Fall in South Florida is more closely associated with hurricanes and daytime highs in the upper 80s than falling leaves and hot cider, but we still see it as our seasonal duty to review at least a few of the industry's autumnal offerings.  We decided to begin this past weekend with a beer from one of the nation's most prominent craft brewers, the Brooklyn Brewery.

Poured from the bottle, Post Road Pumpkin Ale is a crystal clear, reddish brown color, with a head that acts as if it needs to get going somewhere -- and quickly. Post Road's smell is all pumpkin and Fall spices, primarily cinnamom and nutmeg, with the pumpkin scent being dominant.

On first sip, it's not as pumpkiny tasting as some other brewers' offerings, and Post Road shows a fair bit of malt and cinnamom, as well. It has a clean and long-lasting finish, but is fairly thin bodied for the style. It's drinkable, but not my favorite of the pumpkin ales: B.

Game Day Beer Review: Brooklyn Brewery American Brown Ale

photo by Sonnett	via PhotoRee

Columnist Ed (Columnist Ed!) checks in from an off-season jaunt to New York with a beer review:

I'm sitting at B. Smith's in Sag Harbor, staring at Shelter Island in the distance through a pale drizzle, and chatting aimlessly about stiff necks, tv, and the girl that got away.  I'm doing all but making sweet love to the fried oysters dipped in wasabi-coconut sauce (the genius of the so-called black Martha Stewart), and I'm sipping my first Brooklyn Brown Ale (Brooklyn, New York, 5.6% ABV).

The color is true Rembrandt brown, but clear. The head is understated.  It hits the palate tenderly at first, but with a brisk after.  Somewhere abounds the hint of malt so I search for the footprints of chocolate, but they're only there for the dreamer. The beer is not sweet but is made with the strength and purpose of a classic US craft beer.   It's punchy enough for warm days, but best under light clouds.  One might expect a dull and somber mood from a beer like this, but instead it has the rhythm of classic jazz. 

Brooklyn Brown Ale -- it's may not be Queens Boulevard, but it's still worth a go.

B+.

Game Day Beer Review: Brooklyn Brewery's American Brown Ale

(5.6% ABV). Brooklyn Brewery's Brown Ale pours root beer brown, with a thick, two-fingered head that dissipates quickly and leaves behind only spotty lacing.  The beer's smell is very mild, with really only roasted malts and a certain sweetness evident.  The taste follows the nose, and Brown Ale is full of roasted malts, followed by some caramel and chocolate notes, and the beer finishes with a certain dry hoppiness.   This is a very straightforward brown ale -- not my favorite, but I wouldn't turn it down, either: B.