[Local] Third Street Sugar Shack Maple Stout

Oh, and you all thought I was gone, didn't you? You thought I'd sobered up and realized writing about beer was folly, a foolish adventure for a 21-year-old with his head in the clouds. Well, you were all wrong. I've neither sobered up nor stopped writing about beer, my pace just slowed down slightly due to things like: lots of exams, working in a greenhouse, crashing while downhill skating and skinning my ass, applying to grad school, wringing my hands and pulling out my hair while thinking about grad school, playing with puppies, and a mild bout of the flu. Beer was involved in several of those things, but writing about it takes more time than drinking it.

However, I'm back, reviewing a beer that fits with the current theme of my life: dear god I love St. John's, please don't make me leave, no, no, stop, you can't make me leave, I will live in the woods as a hermit. This review is on Third Street's Sugar Shack Maple Stout, brewed with maple syrup from the Saint John's Sugar Shack. I have been fortunate enough to be involved with the Sugar Shack in a few different ways. My academic advisor/study abroad trip director/plant guru advised me on a research project on the maple syrup production when I was a sophomore. I got a chance to help out at the Sugar Shack and hopefully contributed some helpful knowledge with my research. The shack makes syrup in a very traditional way, relying heavily on local volunteers, faculty members, and monks to produce the delicious amber liquid. Beyond a few homebrews, this is the only beer I can say I've had a hand in making, albeit a bit indirectly.

The real Sugar Shack isn't QUITE as cute as the one
on the label- though it's still quite charming.

Style: Maple Stout
ABV: 6.5%
IBUs: 20
Availability: November-February

[Quick Notes] This deep black stout with small cola highlights comes with a rich, complex aroma of authentic maple syrup, light vanilla, chocolate syrup, roast malts, a touch of soy sauce, dry oakiness, molasses cookie, and dark caramelized sugars. The flavor is less complex, but quite tasty, with prominent flavors of roasted malts, a hint of soy sauce, a little chocolate, and rich maple syrup. The medium full, creamy body and low carbonation makes this one a smooth sipper and a nice end to a cold night in Collegeville.

[Appearance] Oh boy, this pours real dark, with some nice cola highlights around the edges. Even a pretty hard pour only yielded a small mocha brown head that dissipated pretty quickly to a thin ring around the edge of the glass.

[Aroma] Ohhhhhhh yeah, this brew lives up to its name, boldly hitting that maple syrup note. Get your Aunt Jemima crap outta here, this is real monk-made maple syrup! Loads of amber maple goodness, dark brown sugars, and even a little bit of vanilla hit the nose first. There's a little bit of chocolate syrup flavor in the background, along with a touch of umami brown malts, something like soy sauce. There is not a big roast malt presence, but there are hints of oak and something a little bit like a molasses cookie.

[Flavor] The flavor is decidedly less complex than the aroma, quite unfortunately, though it is still quite tasty. The most prominent flavors are rich maple syrup, a touch of umami, and a decent amount of roast malt. The maple syrup is really quite delicious, but nicely restrained, not dominating the beer like something sweet like syrup can tend to do. The slightly soy saucy umami character blends into the roast malt flavor somewhat, giving a relatively dry and slightly bitter taste in general, though this balances really well with the maple syrup. Hidden way down in this beer are some slight dark chocolate notes, nice and dry, along with a touch of something a little sweeter, like chocolate syrup. I wish some of the complexity from the aroma carried over here, as deeper layers of vanilla and molasses might have taken this beer up a notch.

[Mouthfeel] The body of this beer is medium full and nice and creamy, which is a pleasant surprise considering the large maple syrup addition. It's not syrupy on the tongue, nor is it too thin. The carbonation is moderately low, giving the overall impression of a nice, smooth, creamy stout.

[Overall] This beer is a little less complex than I like in most stouts, but the flavors that are here are balanced extremely well and keep it easy to drink. I wish the flavor followed the aroma a bit more, but the balance of the bitter and umami flavors with the strong maple syrup character is well done. Considering the whole point of the beer is to showcase the use of maple syrup, I think Third Street hit the nail on the head with this one.

This brew is only available through February, so be sure to pick up a 6er while it's still around! Sitting in my house on the edge of the St. John's campus, watching the snow fall, and drinking a Sugar Shack seems to be all kinds of right. 

As always, please feel free to comment or suggest beers to review. Cheers!