Matthew Dummer said his grandfather George Dummer began tapping their trees in 1984 and he has carried on the tradition.

Dummer said he likes maple syrup because it is versatile. It pairs well with many other products and now that includes Schell’s beer.

On Friday, Schell’s Brewery introduced a limited run Maple Porter beer as part of its pilot brewing system. The Maple Porter brew was limited two a single barrel (31 gallons) and is only available in the Schell’s taproom.

As the name suggest, the Maple Porter was made using maple syrup, which was produced locally from Dummer’s trees.

Schell’s brewer Jordan Walls talks about the process of making the new Maple Porter.

Dummer said the idea to partner with Schell’s came through a casual conversation with Schell’s vice president Kyle Marti during last year’s Bockfest.

“I said to Kyle, ‘You should make a beer from pure maple syrup’ and his face lit up,” Dummer said. “He said someone would reach out to me about it and somebody did.”

Dummer was contacted by Jordan Walls, a brewer for Schell’s. She had a number of questions for Dummer about his maple syrup.

Walls said early in the process of creating the beer, she knew finding the right yeast for fermenting would be important. Since all yeast eats sugar as part of the fermentation process, it posed a challenge to simply add maple syrup to the brew. Maple syrup contains a lot of sugar and if the yeast ate it all up, the syrup would lose its flavor, which defeated the purpose of making the beer.

“There is a lot of algebra involved in the brewing process,” Walls said. Once she knew how much sugar was in the syrup and how much of it would be eaten by the yeast, she could “solve for x” and create the right mixture.

Mathew Dummer discusses his family’s background in maple syrup production and how it led to providing the syrup for Schell’s new Maple Porter.

In the end, five quarts of maple syrup were needed per beer barrel to maintain the maple flavor.

Walls said the final result was a Maple Porter with a full-bodied dark roasted flavor with a sweetness from the syrup.

“I tell people it’s like a mixture of coffee and root beer.” Walls said.

Walls said based on the popularity of the beer on its opening night, she was uncertain if the Maple Porter would last through the week.

Schell’s Brewmaster Dave Berg was excited with the final product. He said it was an example of why the do the one-barrel pilot program. In addition to helping train new brewers, it allowed Schell’s to experiment with new ideas.

Schell’s hosted a new beer release celebration Friday in its taproom for the Maple Porter. Guest were able to learn about the process taken to make the maple syrup flavored beer.

Berg admitted it was unlikely Schell’s would be able to do a large run of the Maple Porter as the cost of the syrup was high, but it was something the brewer could revisit in small batches.

Dummer said he appreciated that Schell’s was experimenting with locally sourced ingredients for these limited beers. He was excited for the change to partner with them again.

The maple syrup used for the beer was harvested almost one year ago exactly. Dummer said he is usually harvesting maple syrup around Bockfest. In order to take sap from maple trees, temperatures need to be above freezing in the morning and below freezing at night. That means March is one of the best months for collecting maple syrup.

Dummer said he plans to tap his trees this week.