573. Chris Wyatt’s English Sour Brown Something-Or-Other

Chris described this beer as an English Brown Ale fermented with Fuller’s yeast to which he added Roeselare, and let age for seven months. For someone

This look says it all,
doesn't it?

normally so attached to style—and British style at that—this is an interesting departure. For example, just today he was complaining about the “dreadful” nature of American 2-row. So the combination of British and Belgian seems, from my perspective, worth noting. Hence my naming of the beer. Mixing and matching styles, Chris? For shame! I will also admit to some Schadenfreude contemplating the struggle Chris went through to let this beer age as long as he did. After all, while I can’t speak definitively about his character, when it comes to aging beer, Chris Wyatt is not a patient man. So in Chris Wyatt years, seven months is like four decades or something. Sorry, I couldn’t find the right app to make the exact calculations, and had to do it by hand.

English Sour Brown Something-Or-Other pours a rustic orange copper with a thin wispy white head that is ephemeral at best. Still, there is active carbonation, with small, tiny bubbles streaming up the sides of the glass. In the nose, there is brown malt, graininess, cereal (like Cheerios), and a hint of lactic acid, followed by an earthy mustiness mixed with dark stone fruit aromatics—cherries and figs, mainly. The latter part kind of reminds me of the smell of my grandparents’ house from my childhood. I also get a hint of something spicy verging on adhesive in the background—the ol’ classic dirty band-aid coming to the party. The beer opens with malt, specifically cereal and bread dough flavors, and a slight vinous fruit slickness that gives the beer a thin feel on the palate. It brightens and sharpens as it runs into the middle, with a combined light lactic tang and a brettanomyces gaminess to it—it is just short of funky. There is more fruit in the middle, albeit a more rounded, brighter fruitiness that pairs well with the wild yeast flavors. This leads to a bright candy lactic twang in the finish (which I like), followed by some grain huskiness and astringency that lingers, along with flavors from the darker grains (which I don’t like). The initial thin mouthfeel gives way to more substance in the second half of the beer, and the lactic bite makes up for the minimal carbonation—it provides the bite and crispness the beer needs to finish effectively. The lingering graininess and astringency gums up an otherwise enjoyable beer—the dark grain flavors don’t sit well with some of the other components of the beer, giving a sharper, rough edge to the slight acetic acid flavors that linger longest on the palate. The strengths of the beer—its soft subtlety of Flanders Red/Oud Bruin characteristics—are counteracted by the stronger, more overpowering finish. You should try this beer again, Chris, but cut the chocolate and roast malt (is there biscuit malt as well?) and replace it with something like dark Munich or Special B to give the beer a softer malt profile that will better balance the finish. Or, in other words, keep it subtle, but make the malt bill more Belgian.

From one of Chris’s rambling Facebook posts: “Lactic and funky with nice body and no bitterness.”

(9/27/2013)

465. Kevin & Andrew Lolli English Brown

Kevin told me that his brother, Andrew, helped him make this beer over the holidays. Since I know Andrew as well, I asked Kevin for a bottle so that I could include Andrew in on the reviewing fun. After all, nothing says fun like mockery. Kevin not only agreed, he passed along the photos you see below. Because nothing says “real American” like bleached spiked hair. You go Andrew. Oh, and when I asked Kevin if this was a Southern or a Northern English Brown, he responded with a “Yes,” followed by a “I think it is a Northern.” Gotta love that certainty. This is el numero tres from my favorite Columbus family, following up the Pumpkin Stout and the Imperial IPA.

Two men enter, one man leave!

K & A’s English Brown has a grainy and nutty brown malt nose; there’s a slight touch of sweetness, but not much more. Color-wise, it’s dark amber brown, although you can still see through it, and it has the classic Lolli head—tan colored, rich and creamy, leaving abundant lacing on the glass. Flavors start creamy and nutty with light caramel malt sweetness; the middle dries out and has a touch of graininess with gentle biscuit and bread flavors. The biscuit lingers into the finish, as does just a touch of bitterness. The carbonation is slightly sharp—I might dial it back a notch—but the beer has good balance in the body and is certainly dry in the finish. Despite the slight sharpness of the carbonation, the body of the beer is smooth, gentle, and rounded. I would like a bit more residual malt character to enhance the mouthfeel, but an easy-drinkin’ beer—flavors are simple, clean, and good. Nice job, Kevin and Andrew. So when’s the next time you’ll be sporting that blue mohawk again, Andrew? Or are the corporate law offices just to square for that?

Seriously, how do you get that sick sick head retention? You’re three for three now. And does it all go in old Sierra Nevada bottles?

(3/26/2011)

406. Jeffrey McElfresh Smokey Brown

Here comes day 2 of my new most favorite week of the year: Jeffrey McElfresh Homebrew Drinking Week. Tonight’s delicious victim is Jeffrey’s Smokey Brown, which, not surprisingly, pours a clear toffee brown color with some slight red highlights. The head is tan and persistent, but not abundant, and the nose has a touch of malt sweetness, although the smoky wood aroma almost completely covers it over. There is also just a touch of that alluring bacon-like wood smoke aroma you find in classic Rauchbiers. Smokey Brown opens with a mix of dark malt sweetness and smokiness—there’s some chocolate and biscuit flavors mixed with the smoke that create a toasty richness, all in pleasant harmony. There is a slight rise in sweetness in the middle, with molasses and brown sugars hints that emerge in conjunction with some of the smoked wood flavor, leading into the dry finish that contains small amounts of bitterness and lingering rich smoke flavors at the back of the throat. As the flavors disperse, there is a nutty flavor that crosses the back of the tongue. The beer has a medium body with a creamy, almost chewy carbonation—it is low to medium and soft; mixed with the smoke flavors, it has a slickness and substance that sits pleasantly on the mouth. Smokey Brown does have some smokiness and tackiness that also contributes to the mouthfeel. This beer is a study in balance between the smoked malt and beer characteristics. The overall experience and sensation of drinking this beer is wonderful—this beer is heavenly. Of all of Jeffrey’s beers that I have tried, this is hands down my favorite. Damn, that’s some tasty beer.

Guess who’s bringing sexy back like Timbaland and Timberlake?

P.S. I’ll bet you didn’t know that Smoky Brown is the name of a type of cockroach. Further, it’s also the name of outsider artist Smoky Brown. That’s what Google is for, isn’t it?

(8/31/2010)

395. Ommegang Zuur and Brooklyn Kats

Today’s wandering tour of New York with Adam included a stop at the New Museum to see the Brion Gysin: Dream Machine exhibition (which was phenomenal), lunch at Katz’s Delicatessen, a quick matinee of Exit Through the Gift Shop, meeting up with Jenn, Stephen, and Stacy at d.b.a. for some beer sampling, and finally dinner at a restaurant whose name currently escapes me. So much culture, so little time...

We had our first beer of the day at Katz’s Delicatessen; listed as Katz’s Ale, it is made by Brooklyn Brewing. So pretty much a good call right of the bat. While the server didn’t know exactly what kind of beer it was, the easy money bet would be an American Brown. Whatever it was, it went perfect with the hot pastrami sandwich.

Adam in the background...

After a brief respite to take in Exit Through the Gift Shop—which, might I add, is a fantastic film—we wandered over to d.b.a. to meet up with Jenn as well as Stephen and Stacy, some more graduate school friends who have ended up in the greater NYC area. While I sampled the Pretty Things Baby Tree, and it was delicious, a quad on a warm afternoon doesn’t sit so well. Plus, the Ommegang Zuur was hard to resist—I mean, come on. Ommegang AND sour? Hot-diggety dog. I also got to try the Blaugies Saison D’Epeautre again, this time on tap, but I didn’t want to rub it in.

Ah, the big board.

I couldn’t find any descriptions of Brooklyn Katz’s Ale on the website, although I did find these pearls of wisdom from a drunk and surly Adam Goldfarb.

From Stan Hieronymus’s Brew Like a Monk website: “The Brewery Ommegang sour beer mentioned in the previous post now has a name: Ommegang Zuur. Larry Bennett, the minister of propaganda, provides some details about the beer brewed in collaboration with Liefmans in Belgium: ‘It’s a blended Flemish Sour brown. It’s a blend of two Liefmans beers: Oud Bruin, which is open fermented and then aged 6-8 months, and Liefmans Cuvee Brut, a new, fairly dry, kriek-style beer coming from Liefmans. The Cuvee Brut begins with Oud Bruin, then sits on cherries and is aged for a year. It’s then blended with more Oud Bruin and Goudenband.’”

Go Banksy!

(7/30/2010)

331a. Smuttynose Old Brown Dog Ale

More from Smuttynose, and another dog-themed beer for Elli. We’ve run through Baltic Porter, Imperial Stout, Shoals Pale Ale, Finestkind IPA and Farmhouse Ale, making this el numero seis.

Old Brown Dog pours a reddish brown color—just about the color of a chocolate lab—and has a thin khaki head; the beer is slightly hazy, but mainly translucent. With a sweet, toasted, and nutty melanoidin malt nose, Old Brown Dog has none of the normal hoppy aroma of an American brown, which of course would then make this a British brown. Flavors start pretty clean and neutral, with a sweet brown and bready flavor. There is a nutty, fruity flavor in the middle and a touch of spiciness in the finish, although there is no hop bitterness of character anywhere else in the beer. As well, there are dunkel and bock-like characteristics to the beer flavor profile. Old Brown Dog has a medium body with minimal carbonation—it is adequate to keep the beer clean and not sticky, but there is not much more than that. A well crafted beer overall—clean, smooth, and well balanced with good darker malt characteristics that are subtle and well-developed—but it is not really one of the styles we love, so we’ll just call it good and leave it at that.

From the Smuttynose website: “Old Brown Dog has been cited as a classic example of the ‘American Brown Ale’ style of beer. Compared to a typical English Brown Ale, Old Brown Dog is fuller-bodied and more strongly hopped. Old Brown Dog has been around for many years. It was first brewed in 1988 at the Northampton Brewery. In 1989 it won a silver medal in its category (American Brown Ale) at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver.”

ABV: 6.5%

IBU: 15

OG: 1.060

FG: 1.016

Hops: Cascade & Willamette

Malts: Pale Brewers, Munich, Crystal 60°L, & Chocolate

(5/27/2010)

281. Lagunitas Wilco Tango Foxtrot

After something of a hiatus, we’ve returned to Lagunitas; this is our fifth beer from our favorite phonetic spellers. The previous four include El Chupalupalo, IPA, New Dogtown, and Little Sumpin’ Extra Ale. I still miss El Chupalupalo... We had this on tap @ the Trolley Stop during their monthly beer tasting—the theme tonight was canned craft beers, with several of the nine beers sampled coming from the can. The sampling list included Breckenridge Avalanche, Southern Star Bombshell Blond, Sill Pink Killer, Southern Tier Hopsun, Southern Star Pinebelt Pale Ale, Rogue American Amber Ale, Southern Star Buried Hatchet, Southern Tier Jahva, and Avery Maharaja.

Pouring a dark brown color, Wilco Tango Foxtrot has a creamy ivory head and spicy hop notes in the nose. The front of the beer is full of roasty sweetness mixed with brown malt flavors, moving into a nutty malt flavor in the middle along with grapefruit hop flavors and a small amount of bitterness. The end has a good dose of spicy bitterness that lingers on the palate. WTF was a bit more carbonated than we expected, which limited some of the malt complexity, but also lightened the mouthfeel—we’ll blame the bar and not the brewery for this element of the beer’s profile. This is a very American brown ale—with the hop profile, it could be veering towards the pale ale category. As well, the alcohol is well hidden in the beer. Unless some of the spiciness at the end is from the alcohol, there was not much we detected; while WTF is a relatively low imperial at 7.83% ABV, we still thought it worth noting.

Beware the disembodied hand...

From the Lagunitas website: “A big Ol’ Imperial Brown Ale to help you with your slipperly slide on into springtime. Rich, smooth, dangerous & chocolatey.”

ABV: 7.83%

(4/7/2010)

222. Abita Turbodog

“This is not a beer that bears reflection, it is a beer that bears consumption”

Abita Brewing Company is located in Abita Springs, LA. We had this as a Super Bowl party over at the house of our friends Art and Chloe. They are Saints fans, so they went all-out with the Louisiana-themed Cajun spread. Elli said she would have rooted for the Saints if they had made beignets; me, I got Zapp’s and Turbodog, so bring on the football.

Turbodog pours a beer bottle brown with some orange and red highlights and a thin but substantial tan head. The nose is brown malt and light nuttiness; flavors begin with a brown malt and melanoidin nuttiness in the front before moving into low levels of chocolate and bitterness in the middle and ending dry and slightly grainy. Turbodog has a dry and lightly creamy mouthfeel; it has a medium to light body and moderate to low carbonation with fine small bubbles. Classicly brown, Turbodog is easy smooth drinking

From the bottle: “Abita’s Turbodog is a dark brown ale brewed with a combination of pale, crystal and chocolate malts, dry-hopped with the finest Willamette hops, and fermented using a unique German alt yeast. Each batch is handcrafted using the pristine artesian waters of Abita Springs, Louisiana, resulting in a rich body and color, and a sweet-chocolate-toffee like flavor. Guided by our principle of ‘quality before quantity,’ Turbodog is cold filtered and brewed in small batches using no additives or preservatives. Like all of our beers, Turbodog is prepared with the attention to detail upon which we have built our reputation as one of the country’s finest breweries.”

From the Abita website: “Turbodog is a dark brown ale brewed with Willamette hops and a combination of pale, crystal and chocolate malts. This combination gives Turbodog its rich body and color and a sweet chocolate toffee-like flavor. Turbodog began as a specialty ale but has gained a huge loyal following and has become one of our flagship brews.”

ABV: 5.6%
IBU: 28
Calories per 12 oz. serving: 168

(2/7/2010)

212. New Glarus Fat Squirrel Brown Ale

“Drink Indigenous”

Fat Squirrel Brown Ale is from New Glarus Brewing Company in New Glarus, WI. This has been one of our most anticipated beers of the year, mostly because Elli loves fat squirrels. When she saw the name of the beer she declared it a must have, which was slightly difficult to accomplish, as they don’t distribute outside of Wisconsin.

Fat Squirrel has a toasted biscuit malt nose, a clear copper color with a prominent orange presence, and an off-white head. The color does seem a bit light for a nut brown—it has something of an Oktoberfest look about it. Beginning with a sweet toasted malt, Fat Squirrel moves into a nutty and something of a flat cola flavor in the middle, and ends clean with some low levels of bitterness. With a light body and a crisp, tight carbonation, Fat Squirrel has a rounded and well balanced body. Not quite as rich as we would expect for a nut brown, although it has good flavor characteristics—it is more akin to a mild brown. Enjoyable and eminently quaffable, Fat Squirrel gets the nod for being a Top 10 Best Label contender.

From the New Glarus website: “One deceptively springlike winter day, Brewmaster Dan walked home from the brewery, sat down to dinner and said, ‘Boy there are some fat squirrels out there. They’re running all over the place. I think I should brew a Fat Squirrel Nut Brown Ale.’ Deb agreed and so another beer legend was born. 100% Wisconsin malt of six different varieties impart the natural toasted color to this bottled conditioned unfiltered ale. Clean hazelnut notes result from these carefully chosen barley malts. Hops chosen from Slovenia, Bavaria and the Pacific Northwest give Fat Squirrel its backbone. When the going gets tough remember to relax a moment and enjoy the ‘Fat Squirrel’ in your neighborhood.”

Our local fat squirrel...

ABV: 5.8%

(1/28/2010)

174a. Avery Ellie’s Brown Ale

Ellie’s Brown Ale clocks in as our third beer from Avery; the last two were the 16th Anniversary Ale and duganA IPA. Who didn’t see this beer coming down the pipeline at some point during our year long fiasco?

Buddy is less excited by this beer...

Ellie’s Brown Ale pours a clear, cola-colored brown with a thin ivory head, and has a roasted, chocolate-y, and nutty nose—there might be a slight hint of hops, and perhaps a floral/spicy hint. Starting with dark sweet malt flavors, Ellie’s Brown Ale turns nutty and chocolate-y (just slightly) in the middle. It finishes fairly dry, with a roasted flavor along with some bitterness and low levels of grassiness. Ellie’s has a light, smooth body with light carbonation; a very mild beer overall, with notes of roasted, chocolate, and nutty flavors that contribute, but never stand out or overwhelm the beer—it has good balance. The darker malt profile is well tempered by dryness and hop bitterness at the end. Elli says she would drink Ellie’s again, especially since it is her namesake and features a dog on the label. After all, when don’t dogs on the label make something better?

From the bottle: “Ellie’s Brown Ale is a chocolate colored and mild-mannered brew, with a medium body and a slight nutty character, just like our dog. And, of course, it’s been ‘Lab-Tested.’ Brewed with Rocky Mountain water, malted barley, hops, and yeast.”

From the Avery website: “This beautiful, deep russet brew has the sweet and somewhat nutty character of Adam Avery’s late (1992-2002) Chocolate Lab, for which it is named. Crystal and chocolate malts give this beer a brown sugar maltiness with hints of vanilla and nuts, while subtle hopping gives it an overall drinkability that’s second to none, just like Ellie!”

ABV: 5.5%

OG: 1.056

IBU: 17

Malts: 2-row, Chocolate, Munich 10L, & Caramel 120L

Hops: Bullion, Cascade, & Fuggles

(12/21/2009)

12. The Duck-Rabbit Brown Ale

The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery, which self-identifies as “the Dark Beer Specialists,” is located in Farmville, NC. I’ll be honest: I’m kind of partial to the Duck-Rabbit. It may be the label and the back story surrounding it (come on, who doesn’t love the rags-to-riches/pull-yourselves-up-by-the-bootstraps story of the academic turned brewmaster?) or it may be that I normally drink Duck-Rabbit when I’m hanging out in a cabin in the woods in North Carolina. Either way, it seems like a recipe for success. What makes Wittgenstein easier? Easy—beer and chillin'.

Duck-Rabbit Brown has a toasted malt nose with light notes of sweetness in it and a clear brown color with red highlights. The mouthfeel is smooth and mellow with slight rise from carbonation towards the finish. It starts with a toasted warm malt flavor and moves into a well balanced middle that combines a complex malt body with an abundant bitterness and a dry hop finish. Overall, an impressive and interesting take on a brown ale, even when judged by by the broader definitions allowed the American version; there are no heavy roasted overtones, no toffee or butterscotch notes, just clean clear flavor. There is a bit of creaminess in the front that develops as the beer warms and some dark raisin notes buried back inside the malt/hop middle flavor, but these mainly accentuate the overall profile in positive ways. As well, the hops become more evident in the flavor than in the bitterness as the beer concludes. Duck-Rabbbit Brown might almost be too clean tasting for a brown ale—it has a crisp hoppiness and a malt body that opts for a complex balance of flavors rather than just sweetness, even while maintaining the malt characteristics implied in brown ale category. For a brown ale, this is something that we’d actually want to drink on a regular basis, and that’s saying something, so well done. I’d call it a delicious and exemplary example of an American Brown Ale.

From the Duck-Rabbit website: “The Duck-Rabbit Brown Ale is an American brown ale brewed with loads of hops from start to finish (it’s hoppy and beautifully bitter). Amarillo hops in the boil provide a spicy citrusy bitterness. Saaz dry hops in the fermentor provide a refined flowery aroma. These hops are supported by a grain bill of seven varieties of malt. Oh yeah!”

(7/12/2009)