Town Hall Special
Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery

Beer Geek Stats
From:
Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery
 
Minnesota, United States
Style:
American Amber / Red Ale
ABV:
5.2%
Score:
Needs more ratings
Avg:
4.09 | pDev: 5.87%
Reviews:
9
Ratings:
9
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Apr 16, 2005
Added:
Dec 23, 2004
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews.
Photo of garymuchow
Reviewed by garymuchow from Minnesota

4.1/5  rDev +0.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
Picked up a growler of this.
Initially a sweet pale ale aroma that is quickly followed by a sweet, flowery, citurs aroma of hops (Centennial?).
A golden amber of reds. Firm steady 1/2 inch head. Attractive. Lacing.
Wonderfully balanced. Hops are present and strong, but great malt base prevents excess and add a touch of sweetness.
Adequately carbonated and softly too. Nice soft tones and moderately thin.
Great basic, possibly session beer. Terrific balance. No excesses and attractive.
Apr 16, 2005
Photo of TheLongBeachBum
Reviewed by TheLongBeachBum from California

4.1/5  rDev +0.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
Presentation: Another one of those funky brown Grolsch like, flip top, EZ Cap brown glass bottles. Simply has the letters ‘SPCL’ in black pen scrawled on the white ceramic top. Yet again, a very welcome present that found its way to Long Beach all the way from Minneapolis thanks to one of the Sites most awesome BA’s.

Appearance: As with the other EZ Cap bottles, this one has a gentle but very reassuring release of extraneous gas. Filled almost to the brim from a Growler, it seemed flat at first look, but once poured into my 20 ounce Mug, it quickly builds a very nice tan head that has a ruffled consistency. The head has excellent staying power nevertheless, and it leaves some very nice lacing that turns into a crisp puff pastry relief once it dries. The body exhibits a fantastic color, a dark amber hue with a rusty copper depth. Superb appearance.

Nose: A malty beverage, toasted biscuit malts and some nutty hints wrapped in a warm roasted chestnut odor. Feint spices.

Taste: Toasted malts entrance the brew. Very much like the nose, biscuit malts with a little sweetness, some bitterness lingers in the warmed chestnut finish. Made with Special B Malt, it most certainly reminds me of times when I have munched on this raw offering during Brewery visits. Some caramel – which flirts with the sweetness and the dry biscuit light bitterness – makes this a very appealing brew. Nicely assembled and far from the one-dimensional brew I expected given what I had read about it.

Mouthfeel: Grainy malts, this has a rather coarse feel at feel, but it soon smoothes out thanks to the caramel sweetness and bold doughy-bread feel. A delicate bitterness wraps up business for the day. Above average feel that is ‘Special’ in every way.

Drinkability: Nicely digested, even with its bit toasted malt bill this is far from a one-dimensional brew that bores, somehow it entices you to keep at it. This quickly turns into a Session brew that becomes addictive.

Overall: A damn fine drinking brew, which reminded me a little of some Special Bitters and ESB’s that I drank from the Cask in the UK.

Cheers to my Minnesota Mate BigHuge for this sample – a solid brew.
Jan 16, 2005
Photo of ZAP
Reviewed by ZAP from Minnesota

4.42/5  rDev +8.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
Cherrywood color...very small head...sweet, soft nose...espresso, rum soaked chocolate chip cookies...body is medium...mouthfeel slightly sticky...taste is sweet espresso...some toasted malt too...

Nice brew...would prefer this over festivus as an everyday brew
Jan 15, 2005
Photo of Bighuge
Reviewed by Bighuge from Minnesota

4.45/5  rDev +8.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
Tarnished bronze tone. Dirty white head. Bountiful, droopy lace left behind. The aroma has a nice toasted malt tone to it. And some brown sugar as well. Soft malts on the nose as well. A little sweetish. The flavor has a nice warm biscuit feel to it. And the toasted malt character is pretty heavy as well. Also a little smokiness and soft maple tones. All in all, a nice little experiment that agrees with me.
Jan 10, 2005
Photo of cokes
Reviewed by cokes from Wisconsin

4.1/5  rDev +0.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
Clear amber with a well-formed cap of bleached beige.
Light sweetened, toasty nose with bittering herbs and soft florals.
Begins with the evident caramel blanket of Special B, full of toasted breads, brazil nuts, and maple. Grows a but grainiers as it moves onward. Hop profile is biggish, true to Town Hall's typical balance. It's also unique, hop wise, with a sense of withered lilacs, and bitter stalky greens.
Feels in part, like a heavily modified Pale Ale, with its steady streams of carbonation and texture that strikes a balance between soft and firm.

Nice brew, with a good deal of uniqueness. A fine session selection.

Thanks to Huge for sharing the growler.
Jan 08, 2005
Photo of tavernjef
Reviewed by tavernjef from Minnesota

3.9/5  rDev -4.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5
On-tap at the brewpub: Softly dark golden amber yellow color with a small fluffy off-white cap that keeps a good stay. Lacing in average amounts of strings and spots while maintaining an always present little skim and thick collaring.

Aroma is lightly lofty thats sweet and a bit toasty of a honey baked bread.

Taste is swift and quick with a tender approaching malt thats sweet and bready, very slight caramel and thin maple syrup notes. Finish is really nice and subtle, great little backing of a dryish floral hop sweetness that just floats across the back end with care. Nicely done and very well balanced with a easy smooth cleanness to it.

Feel isn't much I'm afraid, clean, sweet, and crispened, a bit soft and a tad thin within a thinner mediumness of body, yet, plays a creamy smooth sweetened edge from the malts and one pleasant-as-all-hell subtle hop finish.

An excellent little drinker, wets the whistle and keeps a great balance with a fun subtle finish. Major session material and growlerable!
Jan 04, 2005
Photo of BeerBuilder
Reviewed by BeerBuilder from Minnesota

4.2/5  rDev +2.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Pours a to clear amber-copper color with a nice white head. The aroma is is toasty and bready with a spicy hop and malty aroma. There is a bit of fruitiness present as well. The flavor is bready and malty, with a bit of sweet honey and fruit hops. It is very easy drinking and drying in the finish. A very nice brew, even better on cask.
Jan 01, 2005
Photo of feloniousmonk
Reviewed by feloniousmonk from Minnesota

3.93/5  rDev -3.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5
I must thank truthbrew beating me on this one, and tackling the task of assigning a stylistic designation. The bartender, Andy, called it a hybrid, and the brewer, Mike Hoops said it was close to a Scotch Ale, but he was still thinking about that. These were the only other clues... "...highlights one of my favorite malts....Belgian Special B, wonderful toasty caramel and maple flavors make this a smooth and delicious beer. Don't worry some new hop flavors are evident.."....but on to drink the thing.
Rusty copper color, clear, with a big, but swiftly diminishing light cocoa-tan head.
Malty aromatics, rich, amber/coppery tones, herbal and a tad spicy, with subtle hop characteristics popping through. Really has an ESB/amber ale feel in the nose.
Very clean entry on the palate, smooth and brisk. Malty taste, but a minimum of hops, but they play well with the flavor. There's a touch of graininess, and a bready feel, with a caramel glaze over it all. Medium bodied, mild, even-keeled finish. Very tasty, though...I like it more as I finish the pint. There's a slick oily feel that adds to the drinkablity. Excellent session brew, and a surprise of sorts, after recent introductions of a spiced ale and a coffee porter, to find a new creation that's a simple, uncomplicated quaffer.
Dec 24, 2004
Photo of truthbrew
Reviewed by truthbrew from Minnesota

3.65/5  rDev -10.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Served on tap a bit too cold, on release day, 12-22-04.

A coppery ale; not exactly sure on style, perhaps the closest is an amber ale or pale ale. Very malty body, sweet nuttiness on the flavor with a somewhat drying finish. Couldn't put my nose on what hops were used, but they mention is something new for TH.

An overall solid and tasty offering which I would surely be tempted to drink in a session.
Dec 23, 2004
Town Hall Special from Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery
Beer rating: 4.09 out of 5 with 9 ratings