Peak Organic Maple Oat Ale

Peak Organic Brewing Company
Brewed at Shipyard Brewing Company
Style: Specialty Grain
Portland, Maine USA

Bottle. Pours a clear copper with a small thick light tan head that leaves awesome lacing on the glass. Aroma is very sweet - maple syrup, light fruits and jam - with an oat malt base. Flavor is a bit odd at first with lots of sweet maple sugar. Later oats, toast/roasted malt, sour apple, and buttery toast come out. Weakish palate. This beer really does grow on you. After my first pint I was unsure of what I thought, but after trying it some more I really started to like it. Quite drinkable and pretty tasty too. A unique beer, and of course, it’s organic!

On tap at Piper’s Pub, nice place. Mildly sweet aroma. Looks like very light iced tea and this is surprising cause I thought it would be nearly black considering the name. Big foamy head that does not fade. Slight maple taste with a little bitterness. Finish is mildly bitter and palatable but the bitterness on the back of the palate builds with each sip. Not bad for a specialty grain brew. Can’t hold a candle to John Harvards Rye Weiss but IMHO much much better than Founders Black Rye.

Sampled at a beer tasting in Concord, New Hampshire in a 5 fl. oz cup. It pours a rather rusty brown with a foamy beige head. Aroma is hopped and sweet. Taste is also sweet and slightly hopped or malted but I didn’t notice much in the way of maple.. This wasn’t too bad.

12 oz bottle. Pours a nice copper color with a beige head that starts off big then fall to a much smaller height but lingers and laces well. The nose is heavy on the maple syrup and molasses. Very appealing with background hints of oats and even a very subtle hop prescence. Tastes exactly like you would think. Sweet and full of maple flavor that comes out in the nose. The mouthfeel is better than expected. Not too syrupy and not too thin. It does finish a little dry but not enough to ruin the beer. If the name of this beer appeals to you, buy it.

Sample poured from a 12oz bottle. Minimal herby and grassy hops initially greet the nose followed by some toasted bread and sweeter maple syrup notes. Pours a brilliantly clear orange/copper with virtually no head. Grainy malt and sharp, bitter but altogether unremarkable hops on the palate. No real silkiness from the oats and just a touch of artificial sweetness from the maple. Leaning toward medium bodied with an abrupt hoppy finish.

The Dan Journal #173. 22oz bomber. Tasted 5/17/08. Filtered with an amber hue. Off-white head. Oaty bready aromas. Soggy bread. Medium bodied and smooth and sweet. Oaty mild malts. Tart flavor. Touch cinnamon spiciness. Good finish. Meh...

Pours a clear apricot body with with a modest off-white head that fades rapidly. Lopsided lacing. Has kind of an APA aroma, grainy malt, a sweetnes that I’ll assume is from the maple (although I can’t clearly identify it as such), and a citric & earthy bitterness. The flavor doesn’t really display any oat or maple characteristics. It has a sweet graininess to it along with bitter soil in lieu of hops. I would neither recommend nor drink this beer again.

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Pours a three finger cream head that fades to a thin layer leaving some lace. Nice clear amber color. Medium carbonation and medium bodied. Slight hoppy nose. Flavor is balanced with some malty sweetness but couldn’t taste any maple. $1.50 for a 12oz bottle from Capitol Convenience Concord, NH.