sap vs. suds

Maple syrup and beer: Canadians love them separately, but do they belong together? With a few exceptions, probably not

Spring beer means different things to different beer drinkers, but traditionally the area that’s remained uncontested is the German-invented “maibock,” a.k.a. the pale bock, or heller bock, first brewed in the Bavarian Alps some four or five hundred years ago.

As the Oxford Companion to Beer tells us, this flavourful, strong and malty lager was originally brewed for just that short period some might deign to call spring, between the severe winter of the Alps and the sudden arrival of summer (sound familiar?). During these weeks, when it was still too cool to hit the beer gardens, but light enough outside that the dank interior of Bavaria’s beer halls was no longer tolerable, Bavarians took to the streets and threw off the shackles of thick clothing and dumped their thick, black rauchbiers in favour of the punch-like maibock.

Tending towards an amber colour, 6%7% alcohol and a malty finish, the style’s not very popular in Canada these days, although hoppy, ale-based varieties abound, all meant to mimic the “glass of greenery” botanicals burst that the maibock implies. Amsterdam Spring Bock is a hybrid example, a 7.8% doppelbock loaded with hops that still manages a malty finish. It’s aged for a few weeks longer than your average lager, and I’d suggest aging it even longer than that to blunt some of the bitterness further. Winter’s end is already bitter enough, no?

Canadians are much more likely to be quaffing craft this spring that hails from the American pale ale family (which is everywhere in Ontario these days). That means pints on the hoppier side of things, with the influence of the malt-forward maibock still lingering somewhere. To wit, the return of Beau’s All Natural Beaver River, a marriage of Pacific Gem and Cascade hops with the bold backbone of Munich and caramel malts in an amalgam of American and British IPA styles (what could be more Canadian?). A lower alcohol of 5.6% is welcome, too, considering the effects the heat of Canadian patio season has on drinking patterns, especially during those first few weeks of nice weather.

But while the maibock no doubt served medieval Germany’s denizens well, the truth is, hops are hardly a natural springtime ingredient (the biggest North American festival honouring them takes place in the Yakima Valley in Washington in October), and malts, well, they’re more of a harvest time thing, too.

So, what’s the distinctive taste of spring beer in Canada?

We asked Joel Manning, brewmaster at Mill Street Brewery in Toronto, and his answer was evocative: “The maple sap run is such an iconic thing in Canada, and when we were looking to bring out a new spring beer, I thought of using maple syrup from Ontario and smoking malt over Ontario-grown beechwood.”

And indeed, Manning’s not the only craft brewer tapping the local tradition of the sugar bush for a bit of inspiration this year — a slew of maple syrup-inflected seasonals are coming out of hibernation this year. Lake of Bays Spring Maple Belgian Blonde Ale (7%, 750 mL; $8.95), Nickel Brook’s Maple Porter (6%, 750 mL; $8.95) and Trafalgar’s Maple Bock (6.5%, 650 mL; $4.95) all attest to brewers’ attempts to meld this volatile, maximalist ingredient with nuanced, subtle beer styles. Like older brands in the vein, such as Kitsilano Maple Cream Ale by Vancouver’s Granville Island, and the defunct Upper Canada Maple Brown Ale, the new attempts aim to balance a roasted malt finish with the burst of oversweetness from syrup and the bitterness of hops.

But unlike a pancake supper at a cabane à sucre, simply dumping syrup, even high quality stuff, into a beer, can be a disaster on the palate. The brewers at Mill St. know that, and in recent years they’ve established their seasonal six-packs as a sort of “craft beer labs” by testing out new recipes on customers. To wit, the Spring Thaw Maple Ale is half of the Toronto-based brewery’s Seasonal Spring Mix Pack, which also includes three bottles of their spring bock (6.2%, 6x355 mL; $13.25). Brewmaster Manning assures that “the beechwood-smoked malt and the amber maple syrup notes are so restrained that we backed off the hops in order to really showcase these beautiful sweet, smoky flavours.”

And that’ll be music to the ears of any beer drinker who’s ever quaffed a “honey” or “maple” beer only to find themselves sipping on what tastes like a melted lollipop. After all, we like our sweet things in Canada, especially in springtime, but we’re tougher and more rugged for surviving the winter, too. For their part, Manning says Mill St. was looking to expand an existing Canadian and Ontario tradition, not simply hitching a ride on maple syrup season’s buzz. To wit, the brewery uses sweet stuff from Wheeler’s Maple Products in McDonald’s Corners, Ont., and smokes the beechwood malts themselves. For Manning, that adds up to an undeniable quaff of Canadiana.

“It brings to mind a cabin in the woods at the end of the winter with some light at the end of the tunnel,” Manning says of the brewery’s latest creation. “It is made in the spring in Canada, and it is made of the spring in Canada!”