Jarrah Jacks Brown Ale
Jarrah Jacks / Pemberton Brewing Company

Appearance - Very dark, appears opaque until viewed through light. 2 fingers of head, which increased at first.

Smell - Sweet coffee. Pretty much what you expect from the taste.

Taste - Strong, sweet coffee flavour. Quite similar to a porter.

Mouthfeel - Very good aftertaste, good texture.

Drinkability - Fairly easy drinker for the style.

Overall - This was the first dark ale I have really enjoyed (when I first tried it about 7 months ago), and since then porters, stouts and dark ales have been pretty much my favourite styles.

Appearance - 4.0
Poured a big four fingers of foamy beige head, I've a feeling someone has dropped this at some point in time. Colour is a very dark reddish brown that is only slightly transparent.

Smell - 3.5
A very pleasant, sweet malt driven aroma. Smells of coffee, roasted and burnt malt, slight spiciness and a little hop profile.

Taste - 3.5
Very much malt driven, as it should be. Starts with smooth roasted malt, moves onto sweet black coffee, ends with a burnt bitterness. Aftertaste is all of the above, burnt, sweet malt and coffee in equal measures.

Mouthfeel - 4.0
Almost velvety smooth. There is a persistent fine carbonation which reduces as the beer warms, weight in the mouth is moderate to heavy. Feels quite thick, almost syrupy.

Drinkability - 3.0
For me this tastes a little too burnt, and I would never use it as a session beer. Interesting and nice enough to keep coming back to though.

OVERALL - 3.6
This is a pretty decent brown ale. Not my favourite style, but good quality with some complexity. Very close to scoring a 4 for taste, which would have bumped the overall score up to a very respectable 3.8, so I may be being a little under-generous. Quite pricey like all the Jarrah Jacks beers, but quite well made and reasonable value when you think about it.