Murray's Angry Man
Murray's Craft Brewing Co.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best before 30 06 12

a) Thick, caramel brown, tan spongy head.

s) Soapy floral aromatics with a slightly smoky note. Maybe some biscuits or a country loaf, crushed spice seeds, maybe caraway. At this rate, it will go very well with German meat dishes. Warms to a melon fruitiness.

t) Spicy, nutty, malty, with a big resin hit, hint of alcohol warmth, and firm bitterness. Pepper & caraway linger in the aftertaste, ad a faint, late, charred steak note.

m) Fairly smooth, with upfront tingly experience, long prickly bitterness.

d) A fairly complex beer, which you'd expect from Murray's. Several style dimensions are explored, not just 'brown ale'. It's not a session ale, and probably best limited to 1 or 2.

Appearance - 4.0
A gentle pour fills the glass almost entirely with foamy cream to beige head. After a long wait and several top ups, a mostly clear, reddish brown beer is revealed. Lots of sticky lace and good head retention.

Smell - 3.0
Oddly Belgian-like aroma is musky and sweet, slightly medicinal. Spicy, piney hop notes with a little caramel.

Taste - 3.0
Assertively bitter with spicy and piney hop flavours, dry and dusty, little malt character, a hint of roastiness, slightly warming alcohol. Finishes very dry with lingering bitterness.

Mouthfeel - 3.5
Moderate to lively carbonation, medium bodied, leaves the mouth very dry.

Overall - 3.0
Freshness may have been an issue, and I have to admit to preferring maltier, less hoppy brown ales. I would buy again, just to see if this bottle was an aberration. Not bad, but far from good.

Pours a massive five finger tan head over a chestnut body. Lacing stays all night.

Aromas of Malts caramel, toffee.

Taste is of sweet brown sugar, very alcoholic, with a rich creamy mouthfeel. Hoppy/pine bitterness as well

Overall a Hoppy Brown Ale on steroids. HOWEVER.. as the glass goes down, I am torn between wondering if the sweetness or the bitterness dominates? Whole is less than the sum of the parts...

EDIT - second bottle was flat. Have not altered scores

What a name love it hope the brew is just as good and it pours a deep,dark,chestnut hue with beautiful carbonation that leaves a creamy two finger head that stays and leaves heaps of lacing very nice looking,the smell is sweet toffee malts,piney hops and stonefruit,it has a medium bodied well carbonated mouthfeel and has tastes of sweet toffee,caramel,dark fruits,sticky date pudding and finished with a stonefruit,slight piney hoppy finish and overall a truly tasty drop that i will be making sure right now that i can get some more cheers.

Thank MrKennedy for the trade, This brew poured out as a pleasing clear brown color. The head was tan and rather long lasting. The aroma is pretty hoppy actually. I was expecting a more nutty or malty aroma. Not bad though. The taste is hoppy and bitter upfront then fades into a smooth nutty aftertaste. I found the transition really nice. The mouthfeel is a little bitey but overall very drinkable.

Pours dark brown with a large lasting head leaving lots of lacing.
Nose shows plenty of hops, lots of tropical fruit in there; peach, passionfruit. Underneath is heaps of nutty malt.
The hops take a lesser role as a flavour, instead the nutty and chocolate malt is quite quite bold. Howerver, there's still a fair whack of fruit in there and the finish is pretty dry with a big hoppy bitterness.
As usual for Murray's, I find the carbonation to over the top.

Intense resinous hop aroma with a caramel malt character. Interesting.

Nice, clear mahogany colour with a moderate sized, light tan head.

Sweet and almost under-attenuated in flavour. Good, oily hop character. Solid bitterness.

Full body with moderately-low carbonation. This could be slightly lighter and crisper.

Tasty but too sweet for me. A bit overly sticky.

Thanks to BA lacqueredmouse for sharing this one with me.

Pours a bright ruby colour up to the light, but a nice deep brown otherwise. Head is cream-coloured, thin and rescinds to a thin layer of bubbles. Bead is slow but steady and there's some decent lace around. Pretty nice.

Smell is pleasant. Mostly malty, with a slight roasted edge. Delicious sweet toffee coming off that, nice caramel with a slight crème brulée caramelisation to it. Mild coffee at the back, not a lot of hop really. I like some hops in my brown, but apart from that this is a very tasty smell, malty and sweet.

Taste is quite roasty and dark, with a distinct sour, earthy character pervading underneath. Lots of dark burnt sugar on the front, giving toffee and some raisin notes, then gets earthy and slightly bitter with some espresso notes, more raisins and some dark cherry. Some cocoa on there as well and finishing off with a mild licorice spice. There is a slight hop note at the back, resinous and not very distinct, but very welcome. This strikes me a bit more as a dark ale than a brown ale, but style is open to interpretation and who the Hell am I to question the great Shawn Sherlock? Pretty tasty, anyway.

Fair amount of body but swills well, not too sticky or too thin. Has a slight sizzle to it which could be toned down a bit, but otherwise fine.

Good drinking beer. Fairly spikey flavour at times, but a very nice darker ale.

A - A fairly clear light brown with reddish touches. A 3cm off white head persists.
S - Light nutty chocolate aroma backed up by lots of floral & citrus hoppiness.
T - Bready & caramel character along with floral & citrus hop character like the smell.
M - Lighter side of medium bodied with a noticeable bitterness but nothing overpowering.
D - A very tasty American Brown Ale. Well worth trying & I'd drink it again.

Tried on tap at the brewery, then purchased a growler to bring back to Sydney to drink with @LaitueGonflable.

Pours a lovely reddish ruby-brown colour, with a pleasantly laced beige head. Sticky lacing along the edge of the glass. Looks pretty still, the body has a great deal of depth and cleft to it. Very nice.

Nose is very fragrant and hoppy, with some sweet citric notes - in particular sweet orange and tangerine, but with a solid malt backbone. Definitely some dark, nutty notes with grain and almond paste coming through.

Taste is great - nutty characters on the fore are peppered with some fresh hop bite, before a roasted grainy character wells on the back, giving a lovely mixture of dark bitterness and hop bitterness.

I know there's no scientific reason why this should be the case, but I actually enjoyed the growler version that had sat around for two days more than the fresh on-tap version.

It's a great beer, bursting with flavour that very pleasantly straddles the line between grain and hops. Check it out if you can.

Once again, Murray's have come up with a great seasonal release. I love the fact that they release these beers so frequently - better is that they are consistently good and interesting.