Rail Ale Nut Brown
Howe Sound Inn & Brewing Company

 

Pours quite a dark brown with orangey amber around the edge when held up to the light, and a two finger off-white head. A mild chocolate malt dominates the aroma, and is complemented by mild dark fruit. Nothing overpowering. The taste follows the aroma. Finishes on the sweet side. Hops very subtle. Overall
a pretty good imitation of tradition English style, and not a bad beer.

 

Rail Ale Nut Brown is a deep, leathery brown ale with highlights of ruby. The head is cloudy and a deep, cream in color.
Rail Ale's aroma starts off malty and sweet, with that up front maltiness having a vaguely leathery quality to it. Sweetness is at first, a straightforward sugary sort of thing. Cocoa powder and caramel lend support, giving the nose its first hints of overall depth. Aromas of chocolate and ripe stone fruits make themselves known in the center. Things move cleanly and easily into a finish that gives hints of earthy, leafy, European hops.
Taking a sip shows me a medium bodied, malty beer that leans more towards overall dryness than what I found on the nose. Again I get chocolate combined with leather and earthiness. Flavors build slightly towards a caramel tinted sweetness in the center before moving into a lasting finish that is dry and notably hop flavored. Hops come out in the finish earthy and pleasantly bitter.
It's richly flavored with all sorts of malt character, erring towards balanced complexity as opposed to being too sweet. The hops provide balancing bitterness, adding to the beer's character and helping keep the beer from becoming cloyingly sweet. To my mind, this is a very worthy example of an American version of a traditional English beer style.

 

 

 

The appearance was a dark brown color with a finger’s worth of creamy colored head. Sly messy lace. The aroma had some coffee, toasted nuts and chocolate. Mild caramel in the background. The flavor took all of those previously mentioned tastes to blend sweetly. Mild roast. Even a milder bitterness. Smooth sweet nutty to chocolatey sort of aftertaste and finish. On the palate, this one sat about light to medium on the body with a fair sessionability about it. Mild carbonation. Overall, good brown ale that I would have again.

 

 

A solid nut brown ale, easy to drink and well balanced in the the sweetness and roasted taste of the malts. Would not hesitate to drink another litre of this fine brew.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A very enjoyable take on a easy drinking, palate-pleasing beer. The sweet, layered flavors position this nicely with many of the better Canadian brown ales I have sampled. Rail Ale is all about the malt, with an overriding Cadbury Nut Bar sweetness.