Sunday Night Suds - Samuel Adams Maple Pecan Porter

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Samuel Adams Maple Pecan Porter.

As winter ebbs slowly away, Samuel Adams has rolled out its spring mix box which it calls the Spring Thaw Beers. The box includes the flagship Boston Lager, last year's spring seasonal - Alpine Spring (  ), the occasionally hard to locate Irish Red and three new brews (all with a Star-K on the label!) - White Lantern, Double Agent IPL and the Maple Pecan Porter.

My first look at the Spring Thaw box came when I was in Costco. I was reluctant to purchase the box, based on the price and also since I did not know anything about the kashruth of the new varieties. Fast forward to last week and I was on my way home from work on Friday and needed to pick up some Saranac Diet Root Beer (a staple of our Shabbos table since 2009). I stopped in at my favorite local beer store - Beverage Barn on Jericho Turnpike in Garden City Park to pick up a six pack and saw that they were carrying six packs of the new Double Agent IPL and White Lantern so I picked up a bottle of each. But I still did not know the status of the Maple Pecan Porter, until...

This past Friday Night, Sarah & I were zoche to attend a shalom zachor being hosted in honor of our friends Shaun and Michelle Z's new son. After arriving at the shalom zachor and giving a warm mazal tov to Shaun and receiving a fist bump from Hunter, I was offered my first up close look at the Maple Pecan Porter. Sure enough it had a Star-K on the label, so I opened a bottle and poured some into cups for Mrs KB and me.

My first reaction to this beer is - boy is this sweet. They brew the Maple Pecan Porter with Maple Syrup and you really would need to have a severe cold to miss it. After a few sips, I started to detect a little of the nuttiness from the pecan, but it was a struggle with all the sugary maple which dominated the brew. By the time I had finished my cup, my teeth felt sticky from the maple syrup and I was sure of two things: (1) this was not a beer to have with any type of substantive meal and (2) I was glad that I had not bought the Spring Thaw box so that I did not need to find a way to get rid of multiple bottles of this pancake syrup masquerading as beer.

The Samuel Adams Maple Pecan Porter is under the Kosher Supervision of the Star-K and has a Star-K certification mark on the label. To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about this brew, please follow this link - http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35/88427. 

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver. If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable). 

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