Alcazar Maple Magic

Brewed by Alcazar
Style: Porter
Nottingham, England

Serve in English pint, Stem glass

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Cask (Gallows Bird, Espoo, Real Ale Festival 2006) Tastes like cake - buit what spice is it? Roasted, chocolatey.

A Sim rate (cask at Pig’s Ear BF): Aroma of maple, of course. Spices, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves. So so Christmasy. It’s all the spices you expect at Christmas with no compromises. The flavour is similar to the aroma, but too too much. So watery for what it is. Spices are great in the aroma, but flavour just doesn’t cut it.

It’s brown/black with a very small, but lasting head. The aroma has notes of chocolate and spice and a nice bitterness, I do not find the maple syrup though. The overall impression is slightly sour, probably from the oats.

Dover Beer Fest 2007. Cumin and ginger spice aroma. Very attractive. Tastes thin and acidic, with the spice coming through again in the finish. Individualistic, but not pleasant.

Cask Handpump at the Fox & Crown, Basford 12/12/2006 Small white head. Spicy liquorice and roast aromas. Black smooth on the palate slightly strong in alcohol and spicy. Some bitterness in a crisp smooth roast finish.

Cask gravity at White Cliffs BF 2007. Black beer with lasting dark beige head. Sour funky aroma. Spice, quite a lot of spice. Odd in mouth, bit sour, nice dark date flavour. Just so bizarre. Just a weird beer, some maple syrup. Odd and to be honest I couldn’t finish it. Bit hazelnutty too. Another idiosynchratic beer from Alcazar.

Cask (gravity) Burton Winter Festival 2006. Deep brown with an instantly syrupy aroma. Flavour balances out with a solid malt base to retard any descent into cloyness.

Bottled. Dark brown with plenty of body. Robust and well rounded with a very distinctive slightly smokey taste. Different and very pleasant from a brewery that in my experience really comes up with the goods.

Bottle conditioned. Another fine Alcazar porter/stout. Pours like the others - slightly oily dark black with a brown head that does not last long if it appears at all. The aromas are rich, warm, smokey, chocolatey and in this case syrupy sweet with earthy spiceness too. The mouthfeel was slightly oily and nicely full bodied and lightly dry. At first the syrupy sweetness was hardly noticeable because of the smokiness and roast malts. After a third of the bottle, the sweetness became cloying but by the last third the appealing warm earthy spiciness became to the dominant flavour. An interesting festive winter warmer that was ever so slightly too sweet.

Bottle. Dark brown with a, oh its gone, head. Aromas are deep,dark syrup, mollasses, bready yeast, licourice, salt and winter fruit. Flavours are sweet mollasses with herbal licourice, mellow winter fruit, root vegetables and dark syrup. Lightly carbonated with a herbal, metallic, prickly finish.