My home brewing has slowed down drastically, so when my brother asked if I wanted to get together sometime in May to brew, I was pumped.
After weeks of debate, we decided we'd try something a little different. We ordered an IPA kit from Midwest Supplies (we don't do all-grain) and decided we'd modify the recipe with some Maple Syrup.
A little background, as a family, we are currently overstocked on maple syrup. Every year we make it on our farm in Pennsylvania, and must have 100 jars of it between just the two of us. The last beer I made was a maple syrup porter back in September and it turned out magically, so I was all in.
Last weekend I had my first taste and I was pretty shocked. It's extremely sweet (and above 7%) but the hops all faded to the back end. At the time, I was also drinking a Rt 113 by Sly Fox, so I wasn't sure what to make of our Maple "IPA".
Since then, I've had a few more bottles and am really enjoying it more and more. We used oak chips in the secondary fermentor and I had completely missed the woody flavor it added during my first taste. It's a thick, creamy mother with a dark amber color that really has an interesting bitter finish that sneaks up on you after all the sugary syrup flavors.
So in sum, I consider it another smashing success. Next up for me, Maple Wine and more Mead...
Brothers in action:
The gorgeous end result (and another plug for Charleston Beer Exchange):
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