Beer Review: Brooklyn Brewery Brown Ale

This beer review is in honor of finishing this semester. Initially I thought I would try to find a beer whose name somehow related to school, but when I saw Brooklyn Brewery products were now available in Nashville, all bets were off! I only saw the Brown Ale and the Lager available, and being the brown ale fan I am, I went with Brooklyn Brewery’s Brown Ale. You know what they say, “Brown will never let you down”. Well, maybe someone somewhere said it once.

On to the beer….

According to the neck of the bottle:

Richly mahogany in color, Brooklyn Brown Ale is richer and hoppier than its mild and malty English forebears. Chocolate and coffee flavors punctuate the roasty malt background. 

The Pour
This pours with a light beige, two and a half finger thick head, consisting of somewhat loose bubbles and leaving, at first, only a tiny bit of lacing on the side of the pint glass. As you drink the beer, more prominent lacing is evident. It is indeed a mahogany color as the neck of the bottle mentions. Held up to the light it looks quite light bodied.

The Nose
Excellent malty notes are the first thing you notice. There are definite oak notes and roasted and smoky notes, as well as a hidden sweetness. Smells terrific.

The Taste
First reaction: there is more hop to it than I expected. (I didn’t read the neck of the bottle until I finished my first bottle.) There is definite oak in the taste, as well as a dry dusty dark chocolate profile. It seems kind of light bodied and smooth, but with a slight crispness occasionally making itself known. There is a little sweetness on the finish. The hops give it a dryness but not a bitterness or sourness. With the oak and the somewhat light body, this is sort of like a brown ale version of an dry oaky merlot.

Overall
This is an experience beer. An experience beer is what I call those beers that are unique and interesting, but not something you would drink a lot of. This is more for savoring and enjoying. It just gets drier as you drink it, and reminds you more and more of a merlot tinged with chocolate. Overall it is beginning to grow on me.

Recommended: This is not a beer for everyone. It is quite dry and is more a beer to try and to savor. I would recommend any beer connosseiur give it a shot.

Price: I paid about $1.75 per 12 oz. bottle.

ABV: 5.6%

Beer Review: Dogfish Head Raison D’Etre

When I decided to do a beer review tonight, I wanted to do something that’s different and unique and interesting. After much contemplation at one of my favorite places to buy beer, Midtown Wine and Spirits, I ended up buying Dogfish Head’s Raison D’Etre. I was not at all disappointed.

Here’s what Dogfish Head says on the bottle:

A deep mahogany ale brewed with Belgian beet sugars, green raisins and a sense of purpose

Now Raison D’Etre is French for “reason for being”. (Thanks Google!). This beer gave me a reason to keep doing beer reviews. I sometimes feel like after a while most beers all blend together, but this is a standout beer. Let’s begin, shall we? We shall!

The Pour
This pours with a 1 1/2 finger thick light beige head with tiny tiny bubbles. This beer looks to me like it would be a crisp one. The color is indeed mahogany. There’s really no better description for the color.

The Nose
I noticed a good sour nose upon pouring this beer, without even trying to smell it. When I actually smelled it, the sourness was mellowed and there were hints of sweetness as well. After a good couple of  face-in-the-glass sniffs, I picked up on the raisin in the nose, but was personally unable to differentiate the raisin in the nose as green raisin as opposed to regular old red raisin. 

The Taste
I was anxious and quite eager to sample this brew. I’ve heard good things about it but have never tried it, until now. This has quite a creamy/oily mouthfeel and seems to be medium to full bodied. There is a slight hint at the finish of the higher alcohol content. The beer feels quite carbonated and alive in the mouth but it settles quickly. The flavor profiles are comparable to that of a good deep red wine, in some respects. There is a sweetness that precedes the soon-to-come slightly sour hop notes and strong flavors of raisin and dark plummy fruit. There is also a good amount of oakiness in the flavor. You almost want to chew this like a handful of raisins. It’s almost akin to drinking young, still quite moist raisins. This finishes neither clean and crisp nor creamy, but somewhere in between.

Overall
This is an excellent beer! The flavor profiles are varied and interesting and work well together. It feels and tastes like no other beer. 

 

Recommended: Absolutely….this is a great beer, period. Very unique and interesting. Amazing. This is the kind of beer you take to a dinner party if you don’t want to take wine. Watch out for that higher ABV, though, especially on an empty stomach!

Price: $12.99 / 6-pack

ABV: 8.0%

Beer Review: Boulevard Brewing Company Lunar Ale

A friend selected Boulevard Brewing’s Lunar Ale one night when he and his lovely wife (and young’uns) were at our house for a cook out, so I decided to review it for this blog. Thanks Chad!

According to the Boulevard Brewing Web site, this is an unfiltered brown ale. Here is more information:

Brewed using a unique aromatic yeast, this refreshing variety is best described as a cloudy brown ale with a complex, malty aroma and flavor, and a crisp, dry finish.

SENSORY DESCRIPTION: Very versatile beer. Light sweetness complements light foods and malty/smoky flavor can stand up to some spicier dishes. Flavor hooks: fruit, cloves, roasted malt

PAIRINGS: Lightly caramelized flavors from grilling chicken or seafood, roasted chicken or pork, stews, sausages, salads, and desserts including walnuts or almonds.

Let’s get on to the tasting…

The Pour
This poured with a two-finger head consisting of small, tight bubbles that gave the head a somewhat fluffy or pillowy texture. The color seems to be that of a too weak coffee. The beer is somewhat cloudy from the yeast and appears quite carbonated.

The Nose
Wheat is the strongest scent I picked up. It’s almost the only note, as a matter of fact. There are some spice notes. It really smells like a typical wheat beer.

The Taste
The head is rich and creamy. This is medium-light bodied, not heavily carbonated and pretty smooth. This is kind of a one-note beer. You get a wheat beer flavor profile with slight teases of hop bitterness here and there. 

Overall
Before cracking this open, I had no idea it was a wheat beer. Then after taking my tasting notes, I see on their Web site that it’s a brown ale, though it does have wheat in it. There’s really nothing exceptional about this beer to make me say, “Go try this today!” but there’s nothing wrong with it either. Overall, a drinkable wheaty beer.

Recommended: I’m not really going either way on this. Try it and see if you like it, but I won’t push this as a really good selection.

Price: Unknown

ABV: 5.1%