Brown Ale

The seasons have changed, and now fall has come to winter. I’m seeing a little more fall/winter-style beers. This beer here, Divine Barrel Brewing Somehow I Manage Imperial Brown Ale, 8.1% ABV. This ale is made here in Charlotte, North Carolina, with toasted pecans, vanilla & maple syrup. It’s is going for a pecan pie-like taste. It pours a deep brown color with a one and half finger beige head. The aroma is nutty, sweet, and there is maple/molasses. The flavor is sticky sweet, roasted/nutty, cinnamon syrup, and biscuity. The mouthfeel is full. It coats your tongue nicely. Then it finishes like a slice of pecan pie. The aftertaste is nutty and semi-sweet with a syrup-like flavor. I found Divine Barrel Brewing Somehow I Manage Imperial Brown Ale to be a neat brown ale. It has decent brown ale qualities. I’d give this ale a B. A lot is going on in this beer. All flavors do come together, but not one-hundred percent together. It’s not a terr beer. It does feel more burly than it looks and tastes, which I find holds it back from a higher grade. I would have this again, but I would not have it right away. Please be kind, be safe, and enjoy responsibly! Cheers! 

Rogue Ales Hazelnut Brown Nectar, 5.6% ABV with 33 IBUs is brewed with 2-Row, Munich, C15, C75, C120, Kiln Coffee, Brown Malts; Perle & Sterling Hops; Hazelnut Extract, Free Range Coastal Water & Pacman Yeast. This beer has won many awards between 2017 to 2018, for the go check their website. This beer pours a brown color similar to a cola, like Pepsi, Coke, etc… with a sticky two-finger beige head, that is slow to disappear. The aroma is sweet, hazelnutty with roast coffee notes. Taste is pretty similar to the way it smells with sweet hazelnut flavors that slowly turn into a nice hazelnut coffee flavor that softly dances upon your tongue. The mouthfeel is medium. The is brown beer has a nice sweet finish with a light coffee note and a lingering of sweet hazelnut on the aftertaste. Rogue Ales Hazelnut Brown Nectar blew my mind, and I enjoy it. So I give Rogue Ales Hazelnut Brown Nectar an A+. This is a great take on a classic Brown Ale beer that has a delicious twist. If you aren’t into big porters or stouts then this is a good beer to have and ease yourself into those big sweet porters and/or stouts. I highly recommended Rogue Ales Hazelnut Brown Nectar. Please kind, be safe, and enjoy responsibly. Cheers!br

Bell’s Brewery Best Brown American Brown Ale, 5.8% purchased from The Butcher’s Market and is brewed in Comstock, Michigan, and brewed with American hops. Best Brown bridges the gap between lighter-bodied beer and malty stouts and is a good gateway into porters and stouts. Best Brown pours a brown caramel color with a big creamy, fluffy beige three finger head that very slowly dissipates, leaving some pretty lacing behind. The aroma is sweet with some caramel nutty notes with some decent coca & roasted maltiness. The flavor is similar to the nose, with caramel nutty flavor at first, then cocoa and roasted malts with a little hoppy note on the end, with an almost full mouthfeel that finishes with a sweet hoppy note and a nice semi-sweet roasted cocoa aftertaste that lingers a bit. This brown ale is easy to drink. I give Bell’s Brewery Best Brown American Brown Ale an A- just the little hop note at the end held it back an inch. Best Brown was otherwise a wonderful brown ale that you should try it is a good fall beer and not too heavy or high in alcohol. I would have Bell’s Brewery Best Brown American Brown Ale again soon. Please stay safe and enjoy responsibly! Cheers! 

Origins Posted on March 28th, 2015.

Brown Ales are unrated as a style of beer in my opinion. I believe that they don’t get as much credit as they should. I love brown ale a lot. They can be sweet, malty, nutty and drinkable. Here we have Avery Brewing Co. in Boulder Colorado, Ellie’s Brown Ale, 5.5% ABV. This beer is named after Avery Brewing’s beloved chocolate lab. Rocky Mountain water, malted barley, hops, and yeast are used. This is another beer delivered by Brewpublik (www.brewpublik.com). Ellie’s Brown Ale pours a deep russet color with a four-finger pillowy off white head that slowly dissipates into a fine lacing. I found very little light coming through the glass with some carbonation bubbles. The aroma is sweet with some malt and chocolate with a hint of nutty aroma. The taste on Ellie’s Brown Ale is a bit sweet brown sugar at first, and then you get a bit of the chocolate with some nutty flavors and a hint of vanilla. Ellie’s Brown Ale taste is just as brown ale should be. This brown ale has a smooth sweeter finish and nice chocolate and brown sugar after taste that lingers just enough for full enjoyment. The mouthfeel is somewhat light to barely medium. I like brown ales a lot and Ellie’s Brown Ale is no different. I give this an A. It is just what brown ale is supposed to be. It is easy to drink with a great tasting flavor. Ellie’s Brown Ale is something that you could drink a few and really enjoy it. The flavor is not so bold that one is all you could enjoy. It is sessionable brown ale. I recommend that you go and try Avery Brewing Co. Ellie’s, Brown Ale. It is good! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Shiner Beer S’more, 5.0% ABV categorized as a Brown Ale is brewed with real Texas Chocolate and marshmallow to celebrate one-hundred eleven years of beer brewing out of the Spoetzl Brewery down in yes Shiner Texas. S’more pours a deep brown color with a light beige three-finger rocky head that sticks with no movement, that gives you creamy sweet chocolate aromas with faint marshmallow notes. Taste on this brown beer is not too far off from what it advertising on its can, you get a creamy sweetness in the front with a light marshmallow note in the middle and a nice light note of a cream flavor on the end that comes to a nice chocolate sweet finish that carries into a nice light creamy chocolate aftertaste with a light mouthfeel, for a dark beer such as this brown ale. Shiner Beer S’more is exactly what it is, a chocolate marshmallow ale, but I thought it would be more sweet stout or porter like. Yes, this beer is easy to drink for a brown ale. I give this Shiner Beer S’more a C+. It is good but just above average, and the flavor all coincided well with one another but it’s on the lighter side for a beer that makes you think it would not be a brown ale and easier to drink helps. Please enjoy responsibly! Cheers! 

Clown Shoes Beer The Barista Breakfast Brown Ale, 8.5% ABV is not really a summer beer but I wanted to post a beer that wasn’t an IPA, I have posted lots and lots of the style. This brown ale is brewed with Espresso, oatmeal and milk sugars and to me that sounds more like a port or stout. Interesting that Clown Shoes Beer in Ipswich Massachusetts would but all that into a brown ale. The Barista Breakfast Brown pours a deep brown color with a one finger beige head that fizzes into a nice half inch foamy rim that sticks around leave nice lacing behind with aroma of roasted notes with a slight sweetness and hints of coffee that bring you to a semi sweet roasted coffee taste with a bit of bitterness with a linger faint vanilla notes that finish a bit strong with coffee notes and a mild sweet aftertaste with a full mouthfeel. The Barista Breakfast Brown isn’t bad but the sweetness from the milk sugars aren’t a dominant as I thought they should be. So I give Clown Shoes Beer The Barista Breakfast Brown barley a B-. It wasn’t bad nor great it was just above average and some that might be worth trying! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Originally Posted March 22nd, 2015.

I love brown ales but I also like interesting beers as well. So some told me about a peanut raspberry beer I was intrigued. So I looked up what is and who brewed it and I found it was Catawba Brewing Company Peanut Butter Jelly Time, 5.7% ABV. Catawba Brewing Company in Asheville, N.C. and Morganton, N.C. This is a light brown ale and is brewed with five different grains and then aged for weeks on raspberries and roasted peanuts. Peanut Butter Jelly Time pours a murky light brown color with a two finger slightly off-white head. I found no light coming through and very little carbonation. The aroma on Peanut Butter Jelly Time is exactly like its name. It smells just like a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich. You get the roasted peanuts with a peanut butter scent and a raspberry/raspberry jelly aroma. The taste is Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich! There is nice taste of peanuts/peanut butter and raspberries/ raspberry jelly. I also found there to be a bread crust taste that is from the grains and the roasted peanuts. The mouthfeel is medium with a rich PPB&J finish and the aftertaste is just the same as the finish with a little bit of lingering peanut butter. This is truth in advertising. It is just like the name on the can Peanut Butter Jelly Time. Catawba Brewing Co. really hit the nail on the head with this ale. I give this an A+. I like this beer but I don’t think I could drink more than one. The flavor would get a bit intense as you get to the second Peanut Butter Jelly Time. That doesn’t take away a thing from this beer in my opinion. This is a truly good interesting and yet tasty beer. So please go out and try Catawba Brewing Co. Peanut Butter Jelly Time I recommend that you do! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Here is another Anchor Brewing Company beer, this is their Brekle’s Brown ale, 6.0% ABV, an all malt single hop brown ale. This beer is named after the founding brewer Gottlieb Brekle. This is a beer is somewhat new, no sure when it was first introduced. Brekle’s brown pours a deep brown color with a tan one finger fluffy head that fades at medium speed and leaves some lacing. I found there to be no light coming through the glass with little carbonation bubbles. The aroma is strong on this with big roasted malts with a hint of bitterness, but more of a roasted bitterness. There was also a very faint dark raisin to it. The taste on Brekle’s Brown is big roasted malt with a slight hint of chocolate and coffee. The mouth feel is high medium side but smooth. This beer finishes a bit bitter but good a over all finish and the aftertaste really stays with a smooth roasted flavor This is not the worlds best brown ale, but it’s a good one. So I am giving this a B. Yeah I’ve had better brown ales, and this is close to top of the list of good brown ales. I would recommend this to anyone that is looking for a lighter dark beer or just new brown ale. I would go for this again. This is something to try! Cheers! Please drink responsibly!