Fig Brewton
Odd Side Ales

Fig BrewtonFig Brewton
Beer Geek Stats | Print Shelf Talker
From:
Odd Side Ales
 
Michigan, United States
Style:
English Pale Ale
ABV:
4%
Score:
82
Avg:
3.58 | pDev: 11.73%
Reviews:
7
Ratings:
37
Status:
Active
Rated:
Jan 27, 2019
Added:
Jun 27, 2011
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  2
An English Pale Ale brewed with figs.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by km02600:
Photo of km02600
Rated by km02600 from Michigan

3.75/5  rDev +4.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Oct 29, 2015
More User Ratings:
Photo of FartFigNewton
Rated by FartFigNewton from Rhode Island

5/5  rDev +39.7%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
derp
Jan 27, 2019
 
Rated: 3.62 by robotic_being from Illinois

Jul 18, 2018
 
Rated: 3.59 by Fishwhisperer from Michigan

Jan 05, 2017
 
Rated: 3.5 by red94tt from Michigan

Mar 26, 2016
 
Rated: 3.44 by DanGeo from Michigan

Feb 08, 2016
 
Rated: 3.8 by tommy5 from Michigan

Jan 24, 2016
 
Rated: 4 by hopnado from Michigan

Jan 09, 2016
 
Rated: 3.82 by Gemini6 from Michigan

Jan 03, 2016
Photo of buschbeer
Reviewed by buschbeer from Ohio

3.38/5  rDev -5.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
12 FL OZ. bottle
Served in a pint glass

This beer pours copper colored with burnt orange highlights. It is topped with two inches of tan head that leaves some nice lacing.

Obviously I get some fig. It has earthy notes, and I get some cocoa.

The taste is a bit odd. It starts out with some fig then gets tart in the middle. Then I get some earthy, umami flavors.

Medium mouthfeel

This is not my favorite Odd Side ale. It is interesting, and I am glad to have tried it. I just won't be reaching for another.
Dec 05, 2015
 
Rated: 3 by Sweffin from Wisconsin

Dec 01, 2015
 
Rated: 3.6 by rjcoy06 from Michigan

Nov 29, 2015
Photo of StoutHunter
Reviewed by StoutHunter from Michigan

3.75/5  rDev +4.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
I got a bottle of Odd Side Ales Fig Brewton a couple weeks ago for 2.19 at The Lager Mill. This one caught me eye and I thought it was worth taking a chance on, so lets see how it goes. 2015 Vintage. Poured from a brown 12oz bottle into a teku.

A- The label looks nice, it goes well with the name and it's a little eye catching. It poured a nice darker ruby red color that took on more of a brighter ruby hue when held to the light with around half a fingers worth of lightly tan head that died down to a thin ring that stayed till the end and it left a little bit of spotty lacing behind. This is a pretty nice looking beer, but I wish the head and lacing were just a little better.

S- The aroma starts off with a slightly higher amount of medium sweetness with the dark fruits being the first to show up and they impart some noticeable fig aromas. Up next comes the malts which impart a biscuit, bready, doughy and little bit of a toasted malt like aroma which help me it a little fig newton like. This beer had a pretty nice aroma, it was very Pale Ale like, but it delivered on the fig newton like aspects.

T- The taste seems to be very similar to the aroma and it starts off with a slightly higher amount of medium sweetness with the dark fruits still being the first to show up and they are a little lighter than they were in the aroma, but the fig aspect is still noticeable. Up next comes the malts which show up just as much as they did in the aroma and they impart that same toasted biscuit like flavor and it seems to be the aspects that sticks out the most in this beer. On the finish there's just a slight bit of hops with a very light amount of bitterness with the toasted biscuit malts showing up in the aftertaste. This tastes good, but it's not very pale ale like.

M- Smooth, very crisp, a little prickly, medium bodied with a lower amount of medium carbonation. The mouthfeel is pretty nice, it worked well with it.

Overall I thought this was a pretty nice beer, but it isn't a great example of a Pale Ale, I like to think of this more as an experimental beer likes what shorts does and when I look at it that way it came across as coming very close to living up to it name and that's what I really look for when it comes to beers like this. It had nice drinkability, but I think one would be my limit, it might start to wear on me aftertaste. What I like the most about this beer was that it had the right flavors and aromas to stay rue to its name. What I like the least about this beer is that that the figs didn't show up just a little more. I would buy this beer again if they make it next year and I would recommend giving it a try if it sounds interesting to you. All in all i was pretty happy with this beer, it could still use just a little bit of work, but I think oddsides is pretty close to dialing it in on this one. It's not my favorite Oddside beer and it's above average for an experimental beer, it reminds me of strawberry shorts cake in a way. Nice job guys, this was a nice and interesting beer.
Nov 23, 2015
 
Rated: 2.5 by marcb105 from Michigan

Nov 21, 2015
 
Rated: 3.62 by AdamSteve from Michigan

Nov 07, 2015
 
Rated: 3 by Kerrie from Michigan

Nov 04, 2015
Photo of SerialTicker
Reviewed by SerialTicker from Michigan

3.62/5  rDev +1.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Bottled 9/30 and poured 10/30 for something like $2.49 for a single. I've loved Fig Newtons since I was a kid ... which is strange, because I really, really hate the texture of seeds in my food. For some reason, Fig Newtons have always been one of the very few exceptions. I'm hoping for some similarities in this beer... we'll see.

Appearance: Very nice looking beer -- hazy, ruby-ish brown with a white head with a tinge of red and brown to it -- a little lacing on the glass. A quarter finger of head sticks around quite awhile.

Smell: Dirty figs is my first thought. There's a "dusty", slightly roasted malt quality coupled with, in my opinion, a very apparent fig aroma. Fairly sweet smelling with a surprisingly, relatively robust malt quality. This has quite the big aroma from a sub-5% beer.

Taste/feel: Follows the nose all the way, really -- dirty figs. That sounds disgusting, but it's really quite nice. That "dusty"/moderately roasted malt aroma comes through in the flavor along with the sweet figs. I find that the figs are more prominent in the aroma, but I still absolutely can taste them. Does this taste like a Fig Newton? To me, no ... not at all. The malt they used for this beer is the main reason. Had they chosen a different yeast (lager yeast) or something to give this a more biscuity flavor, or some "paler" malts/barley (clearly, I brew beer and know my stuff), then I think they could have gotten that flavor. This tastes more like a slightly over-baked Fig Newton that fell into an old, old copy of Dante's Inferno in a cold old library a couple decades ago. Is that a bad thing? Uh, it should be, but considering this is a beer, I think it works in a strange, strange way. I can't explain how this beer tastes any better than that example ... it's far from a phenomenal taste, but it's, in a pair of words, oddly compelling. The fig isn't extremely potent, but it's nice and adds a subtle sweetness to the, for the third time, "dusty" malts. The feel of this beer is fairly light but moderately carbonated to keep it from drinking like water.

All-in-all, this is really -- as I said -- a pretty nice beer. It's far from ground-breaking, and it's equally far from Odd Side's best beer. It's beautiful in a glass, but it's really a little downhill from there. The smell is slightly better than average, the taste is about average, and the feel is also average, if not slightly below. It's a brew worth trying (hey, it's Odd Side), but if you're coming in expecting a liquid, alcoholic Fig Newton, you'll be disappointed. I could see this being successful if it were a bit more like Figjam from Arbor, with more of a Fig Newton ... uh, breading/crust quality to it. Worth a try, most definitely. I'm done talking now though. Cheers!
Oct 31, 2015
 
Rated: 3.06 by entenduintransit from Tennessee

Oct 30, 2015
 
Rated: 3.81 by JDoHo from Michigan

Oct 30, 2015
 
Rated: 3.89 by Acuity from Michigan

Oct 27, 2015
Fig Brewton from Odd Side Ales
Beer rating: 82 out of 100 with 37 ratings