Mary Wiles joined our brewery team after spending 30 years brewing and doing quality control for a Very, Very Big Brewer. Mary evolved into a craft beer brewer, and now she’s doing our quality control, having fun while helping us make sure that Brooklyn beers are tasting great and ready to make you happy. But Mary has a bright thing lurking in her past, present and future – Mary has maple trees. A lot of maple trees. Actually, a ridiculous number of maple trees, acres of them, right northwest of us in upstate New York. And her family farm makes 100% real New York State maple syrup.
Real maple syrup tastes great on pancakes and waffles, but it’s awfully good in beer too. Porter is a classic British ale style that traveled to the United States, sustained George Washington during the Revolution, and later built London’s great breweries. Mary’s Maple Porter is a rich, dark ale featuring a large portion of her maple syrup in the kettle. After fermentation by our house ale yeast, the syrup is no longer sweet (yeast likes to eat maple syrup too), but the maple flavor shows through in a complex interplay with caramel, chocolate, and cof fee flavors from our blend of roasted malts. An earthy hop note rounds it all out.