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 60-Minute IPA (India Pale Ale)

Today I interviewed for and received a $1,000 scholarship for the 2009-2010 school year, so in celebration I decided to finally try Dogfish Head’s 60-Minute IPA (the continually hopped India Pale Ale). Dogfish Head is a Delaware brewery, and I have tried and reviewed their India Brown Ale before, but that was the only one of their beers I had tried, until now.

Here’s what they say on their Web site:

A session India Pale Ale brewed with Warrior, Amarillo & ‘Mystery Hop X.’ A powerful East Coast I.P.A. with a lot of citrusy hop character. The session beer for hardcore beer enthusiasts!

The Pour
This pours to a beautiful golden color, with a two and a half finger thick head that is almost completely white and very thick and pillowy. It seems to last a good while too, leaving an average amount of lacing on the glass. The beer is somewhat cloudy held up to sunlight. It looks like Spring or Summer in a glass. I am very eager to try this beer!

The Nose
First reaction on experiencing the bouquet: wonderful! There are definitely lemon and orange notes in the nose. There is also a nice hoppy touch to it, but with a slight sweetness. It kind of gives you the thought of biscuits or crackers with honey. That’s the kind of crisp buttery nose you pick up.

The Taste
My mouth watering in anticipation of the citrus and hops sure to come, I took my first sip….it was not what I was expecting at all. With each style of beer, one expects certain flavors or experiences. With a good stout, I expect dark malty goodness and likely coffee or chocolate flavors. With a good nut brown ale I expect some nuttiness and a good balance between malt and hops. With an IPA, I expect some great mouth puckering to occur. That’s not what I got. This beer is sweeter than I expected. There is honey present in the taste, and it’s medium-light bodied and crisp yet smooth. As it warms slightly, the hops flavor comes out a little more, but it never develops into a lovely mouth puckering dry bitterness. This beer has a pretty round mouthfeel. The finish is not exactly clean, more like a sweet afterfeel, if that makes sense. I also picked up hints of banana on the finish.

Then, the second bottle (and subsequent bottles) gave me much more hops. All the flavor profiles were there but hoppier and mouth puckering, in a good way.

Overall
Overall this is a tasty beer. The hops came through on subsequent bottles and really made this an enjoyable beer. A very good IPA, though perhaps a little lighter on hops than expected.

Recommended: Yes, this is a well-crafted IPA with very good flavor profiles. Enjoy in good health!

Price: $10.79 / 6-pack

ABV: 6.0%

Beer Review: New Belgium Brewing’s Mighty Arrow Pale Ale

Part 4 of a (now) 4 Part Series

Part I: Fat Tire Amber Ale
Part II: Mothership Wit Organic Wheat Beer
Part III: 1554 Enlightened Black Ale
Part IV: Mighty Arrow Pale Ale

Cheers,
The Beer Snob

Mrs. Beer Snob and I had some friends coming over for dinner one night last week, so I cruised on over to the new Kroger here in Spring Hill to see what sort of beer I could find that we could try, that I could also review. When I saw a new (to us Tennesseans, anyway) New Belgium beer, I grabbed it.

Mighty Arrow is one of their seasonal beers, a Spring pale ale. According to the neck of the bottle…

Mighty Arrow Pale Ale provides lots of pleasurable sniffs from Cascade and Golding hops, with a fetching honey malt base.

Incidentally, this beer is apparently named after a dog, hence the “sniffs” and “fetching” references on the neck of the bottle.

The Pour
A pour with the glass at 45 degrees, followed by the other half of the pour poured vigorously into the glass, results in a two finger thick, off-white dense head that quickly becomes loose and pillowy. This beer is a great coppery hue and is very clear. Very little carbonation activity is seen. The head leaves an average amount of lacing on the side of the glass.

The Nose
This smells first and foremost of grapefruit and honey, with hints of a slightly bitter floral hoppiness. Judging by the nose, you expect the beer to be full-bodied.

The Taste
The taste is much more about dry floral hops than the grapefruit and honey, though the honey is definitely present in undertones. The beer is medium-light bodied with a crisp mouthfeel. The finish is slightly hoppy and sharp but has a clean, refreshing feel to it as well.  

Overall
Overall, this is a good solid pale ale. It’s a good refreshing spring brew, meaning it still maintains some sweetness (through the honey malt base?) while also giving you the hoppiness you start to want as the days get slightly longer and warmer. As far as I’ve seen, with the four New Belgium brews I’ve tried so far, you really can’t go wrong with one of their beers.

Recommended: Sure! I would say they are a brewery that consistently (as far as I’ve seen so far) cranks out good to great beers.

Price: $7.99 / 6-pack

ABV: 6%