Paper City Nut Brown Ale
Paper City Brewery Co., Inc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pours a mild brown color with a one-finger head into my glass. Most certainly a "nut" brown!

Rich and nutty aroma greets the nose, with just a hint of residual sweetness. A bit "toasty" as well.

Hints of brown sugar and lightly toasted malt greet my tongue. Very subtle and full of flavor.

Mouthfeel is correct for the style with just a hint of lingering toasted malt/brown sugar at the back. Again, the subtlety works in its' favor.

Very nice example of the style. Who needs extreme beer when you can get your nut on? Of course, there are no actual nuts in this but the malt mimics it.

For starters, the beer is unretired. I just bought it in a variety pack so it is back in production. That doesn't mean that this is necessarily a good thing. The beer certainly looks good and has a nice brown slightly hazy color with a nice creamy head right out of the bottle. The retention is okay but that's it. There is a bit of lacing to the beer too. The nose is very good, and in fact the high point of the beer. If only the taste followed suit.

The beer is quite light, watery, a bit more carbonated than most English browns. The beer has a very weak and thin malty backbone that is like vaporware, it just doesn't hang in there. There is a sweet nuttiness to the beer but there is also an over-processed slight musty, slighty sourish, slightly biting flavor. The over processed flavor is really starting to distinguish itself as the beer settles and pretty much predominates. I'm not sure if it is a product of leafy hop, English yeast, or where this off-putting flavor is coming from. Not good. This beer is a one and done for me.

Bottle courtesy of ampzilla. Thanks man.

Appearance: It pours a dark brown color with strong ruby tint to it. Plenty of light getting through which gives it that red look. The head was tan and only about a finger deep. It receded very quickly and left little lace in its wake.

Smell: The nose is malty and very yeasty. It's got a very distinct biscuity aroma. It smells sweet. There's a very faint coffee aroma to it. Frankly that's about all there is to it. It's not very diverse or strong. I was expecting some nutty aroma, but that wasn't there either. Disappointing.

Taste: The flavor profile isn't any a great deal better. It is sweet and malty. There's light nutty flavor, which adds something. But, it's faint and doesn't have a substantial impact. It is yeast and biscuity. I didn't appreciate any coffee as I did on the nose. No hops are notable either. There's really not a whole lot going on with this one.

Mouthfeel/Drinkability: It's light bodied and has an okay feel. It's not quite smooth, but it's passable. Carbonation is light. Just a few bubbles to keep it afloat. Drinkability is pretty average. It just doesn't have anything to draw you back.

Nut Brown Ale needs a lot of work. I'm not surprised it's retired. Perhaps they're working on it as I type. An addition of a more appreciable nut flavor and a mild amount of hops would be a great start in the right direction. Until then, it's just an okay beer. Difficult to recommend as it is. But, then again, if it's retired, a recommendation wouldn't really matter.

Picked up a six pack of this supposed retired beer. The beer porued with no head at all and minimal lacing. Completely dark black color with some minor amber hues in the light. The aromas are not particularly strong but able to be picked up. Smoky mocha, nuts, alcohol, caramel. The taste has a dryness to it and a bit of that smoky flavoring. Bittersweet in general with caramel hints. The mouthfeel was a bit flat, aiding in its creamyness. However, a bit more carbonation would not have hindered this beverage. It makes the flavors of the drink really dull while being milky. Overall, somewhat decent but if it retires again, I won't be sad.

Apparently it's back. Snagged one of my girlfriend's fathers.

Pours a dark brown with a one finger cream colored head. Retention of film on top with head hugging the sides of the glass. Slight reddish tint to the color at the bottom. Excellent spider web lacing.
S: Nutty malt with a caramel sweetness to it. Toasted grain aromas come through here also. Dark fruit—fig and cherries.
T/M: Nutty with a caramel sweetness. Hoppyness that comes through with a bitterness in the aftertaste. Slight chocolate notes in the finish. Smooth and soft, though slick across the palate. More smooth on the palate than I thought it would be. The body is a bit thin and the flavor doesn’t have long legs.
D: Surprisingly drinkable even though it’s a bit thin. More initial flavors than I expected from this nut brown and the smoothness was also quite surprising. I think I’d pass next time.

Nose had a rocky granite smell with notes of caramel, coffee, nuts, dirt and some milk chocolate.

Taste was light to medium bodied. Classic americanized english nut brown flavor. Coffee, chocolate, roasted malt, caramel, nuts, some rocks and stoney granite flavors. A mild bitterness that creeps up half way through than almost disappears in the finish. A mild fruity earthy leafy hop taste that much like the bitterness becomes present midway through but then dies in the finish.

A decent nut brown. The nose turns me off at first with the earthy rock like smells, but the taste is decent. Probably wouldn't have it again.

Poured a dark yet watery brown with a clear body, no head and no retention.
The smell was brown sugar, chocolate and obviously nuts. Nothing suprising or interesting here. Maybe its the style I'm not a huge fan of but I was expecting more here.
Same goes for the taste. It was nutty and sweet with sugar and malts, sweet and roasted. Some spice. Unfortauntely thats about it.
The mouthfeel was sweet and spicy up front, but faded into a blandness accompanied by a watery body that was less than impressive.
Decent at best; definitely not what I've come to expect from PC.

The beer pours a deep, opaque red/black, I can only see through it if I hold it up to the light. There is a nice lingering white brown head. I smell rich caramel malts, maybe a slight nut smell. Taste is slightly sweet and malty, with nice roasted malt in the background, but definitely noticeable. It's slightly chocolatey and nutty. I can't pick out any hops, and the finish is slightly astringent. The beer is a little thin, I would like to feel more of a body, but its a good session beer.

I poured this into a glass. I mean no disrespect to the Paper City Brewing Company, because I always try to be loyal to businesses in my area (this place is literally like 15 minutes away from where I live) but I didn't like this beer at all. The color was good, a nice dark brown. The head on it lasted the whole time I drank it and was a decent off-white color. There was no smell to it, at all. There was a strong nutty after-taste, which was good but the beer itself had tasted extremely thin, almost watery. There was practically no carbonation to this beer. I can't say enough bad things about it. I'm definitely not buying this again.

Pours a rich brown with red highlights, topped with a two finger pillowy light tan head, leaves broken rings of lacing.
Nut, caramel, herb and roasty malt in the aroma.
Nutty, caramel taste, a bit tangy, roasted malt, bread and tea.
Medium bodied, drinkable, an ok but not very exciting beer.

12 oz brown bottle.

Foamy, lightly tan head with good retention. Condensed lacing with pretty good strength. Murky dark brown in color.

Smokey almond aromatics with a touch of malty sweetness. Musty, earthy tones are the most prominent aromas.

Earthy tones with a bold malt sweetness that the aromatics only hint at. This is followed by an almond, hazlenut flavor that changes a bit with the mix of sweetness. The finish is dry and leads to a nutty and grain-flavored aftertaste.

Medium bodied; a little too carbonated. Coats the palate well.

Some pretty good flavors going on here, and light enough on the palate to have a few. Nothing flashy but a pretty good tasting brown. I think that this would drink a lot smoother on tap.

An extremely average beer. Pours a dark brown, translucent with no head to speak of. I think a brown ale should look a bit more inviting. Smell is pretty non-descript here, a bit of coffee roasted malts, and that's it. Tastes basically like a dulled down version of Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale. I know it's not really fair to compare beers exactly, but this just stands out as a less than par brown ale. Too watery, basically is what it comes down to. Paper City does have a few gems, and only a few, but this isn't one of them. Go with Smuttynose Brown Dog if you're in the area.

This beer pours amber/brown with a one finger head that only lasts about a minute with little lacing. The aroma is faint but bread-like and grainy. The beer tastes nutty and malty with a hint of hops in the finish. The body is watery and leaves a chalk-like film in your mouth in the finish.

Reflection: This isn't one of my favorites from Paper City, I only managed to drink two out of my six pack( I gave the rest to unsuspecting friends).