Vanilla Cafe Brown
Saugatuck Brewing Company

 

To begin, two twelve ounce cans have their contents emptied into a clear glass liter mug. There's more foam than there should be from a Brown Ale. Almost as noticeable is the sweet French Vanilla Coffee aroma in the air. There's also enough malt to pleasure the nose of fans of this style. The foam is lightly tan and it recedes slowly and unevenly. The liquid is comparable to the dark caramel color of a cola soda. This is what it portends to be. First, it's a Brown Ale. It's malty and hoppy, with the hops certainly abetted by some black coffee. Then, it's a coffee infused ale, as the taste of that beverage adds a nice additional layer. The vanilla does its part to sweeten the deal, but not to excess. The mouthfeel is light and almost thin, but that's how coffee without cream drinks and it works here. Only at the finish does the vanilla become a little cloying. A drier and slightly more bitter finish would work even better, but that could be fixing something that's not broken. The contrast in sweet and bitter throughout is excellent. The glass lacing is sporadic, at least there's some. Overall, this is recommended for people that like Brown Ales and coffee and don't mind it being on the sweet side at the finish.

 

 

 

 

12 oz. can, 10/24/22 on the bottom - not sure if canned date or best by date.. hmm... A new one to me from Saugatuck, this one a "Brown Ale brewed with vanilla and coffee" sounds intriguing.

Poured to a Piraat snifter.
Pours a dark creamy chestnut body, rich and dark looking with a small wispy brown head that falls to a ring quickly. Leaves some good sticky sugary lacing on the glass.
Mild hop-forward sort of aroma; piney resins & hops jump out at first, giving way to notes of creamy authentic vanilla, and wonderful light coffee-bean roast.
Oh yeah, excellent stuff. Exceptionally silky smooth & creamy. Tons of beautiful authentic vanilla cream, and freshly ground coffee bean roastiness. Body is super smooth and creamy, and the coffee is more sweet & cream forward; not a ton of dark roast or bitterness. Slight nuttiness. Super delicious stuff. Highly drinkable & recommended.

Saugatuck Brewing Vanilla Cafe Brown -----4/5.

 

Canned 9/26/22; drank 10/29/22 @ the Yarchives.

Brown appearance.

A rough pour yielded a big, noisy tan head; strong tree-rung lace.

Medium roast coffee bean, cream & mineral water notes in the nose.

Medium thin mouthfeel.

Medium roast coffee bean & chocolate syrup flavors.

Decent, but thin & unbalanced. Not worth tracking down, in my opinion.

Canned in late 2021, consumed in August 2022. Probably shouldn't leave browns in the cellar that long.
The pour started good, the dark brown liquid produced an inch tall head that dissipated quick enough and left a ring behind. Bit dark for a brown, but no worries.
The aroma was coffee. Smelled more like coffee than the cup of coffee I had here. Curious. Maybe I need to start putting a touch of vanilla in my black coffee.
The taste led with bitter coffee and, what I can only guess was, stale vanilla. It wasn't bad per se, but I really doubt it's what they intended. Drink this fresh!
Feel was spot on, no issues there. Just the lightest bit of body to carry the flavors. (I know it doesn't actually work that way, but it makes sense to me.)
OA, need to remember to drink these when I buy them! Languishing in the cellar does not help them.

 

 

 

 

12oz can. Poured out an opaque, jet-black color with a small, khaki-colored head of foam. It left minimal lacing on the glass. It smelled of vanilla, roasted coffee, chocolate and toffee. Nice vanilla taste with roasted coffee flavor and chocolate backbone.

From the 12 oz can in a snifter. This very nice brown pours a
dark lightly muddled brown with a nice head of tan foam that settles
to a thick ring, thin dusty layer, and shows some light lacing. Nose of
coffee, vanilla, subtle char, dark brown sugars, and earthy malts. Flavors
surpass the nose with dark coffee, vanilla, light cream, earthy malts, brown
sugar, caramel, and moderate char. Nice mouth feel; medium body, smooth,
light carbonation, and a lightly bitter coffee malt finish that is lightly dry.

Overall-a very nice brown

Cheers