Armada (Texas Brown Ale)
Benelux Brewpub & Café

 

Draft at the brewpub - pours thick , almost muddy brown with a thick off white head that leaves heavy lacing. Aroma: grassy fruity hops caramel some roast. Flavour: nuts, caramel, toasty, substantial but remarkably wellblended hopping.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a very good brown ale. Pours almost opaque brown with a finger or so of beige head that ends up as a film with okay retention and lots of lacing. In general it is a very nutty and caramelized tasting beer with lots of toasted nuts, chocolate, caramel, and herbal/spicy European-tasting hops. Rich and full with a medium body in the mouth the flavor and feel is expertly dampened by the medicinal hop flavors. There is not much of a finish/aftertaste and it is very drinkable. Excellent all around. I would be curious to try a version with a less pronounced hop character. They are seriously good and work very well with the beer, but it might be good since the malt is delicious in both the flavor and aroma. Anyway, a fine beer well worth ordering if you're ever at Benelux.

 

Had a pint at Benelux. From notes.

A - Rusty brown pour with one finger off white head. Bright. Good lace rings and a good half finger retention.

S - Toasty, good hop character, nice coffee note.

T - Coffee and toasty with caramel and a nice hop note. Well balanced.

M - Good medium body and good carbonation with good bitterness.

O/D - Nice brown ale. Doesn't break the mold, but it was well crafted. Good balance and nice and drinkable.

 

Had this last night right before the Als game.

Appearance: A mahogany brown body with a 2 finger head and lots of lacing.

Smell: Good dose of hops but the malt wins this one.

Taste: Nuts (skin and all) with some citrus fruit in the finish a bit like an IPA.

Mouthfeel: Creamy, smooth and easy to drink but still packs some decent bitterness.

Overall: A well balanced and flavorful brown ale. Very good.

 

 

I've had this brew many times over the course of my career as a Benelux regular, I figured it was time for me to review it.

Pours a deep fudge brown with a thin tan head, it vanishes rather quickly leaving trace amounts of lace.

Initially the nose is a bit like an IPA, pine and citrus in the forefront but finishes with sumptuous malts and a yeasty bready smell.

Surprisingly large level of citrus, followed by smooth carmel and roasted malts, finishes slightly dry and hoppy.

Very good, medium bodies and creamy with low carbonation

Very drinkable and well balanced, another fine brew from Benelux

sampled on cask at volo as part of cask days '09, oct 31/09. listed as "armada texas reserve brown".

pours hazy deep brown with a small tan head. the head drops fast with spotty lace.

aroma is good. blood oranges. fresh green hops. pine and grapefruit. whole wheat bread. cracker. bit of biscuit. light alcohol. caramel.

taste is great. wow, where the blood orange was subtle in the aroma, it really blossoms here. orange and tangerine hints, but blood orange reall nails it. white bread. cracker. light biscuit. light alcohol. bit of sweetness, more fruity than caramel. medium-low bitterness level.

mouthfeel is good. just over medium body. low carbonation level.

drinkability is excellent. great hop character and depth. perfect balance. probably my favourite of the fest. i could easily drink this all night. if only it were regularly available here!

Full pint on cask at Volo, Armada Texas Reserve Brown, pours a hazelnut brown with hints glints of orange, not much head.

A truly interesting beer that certainly doesn't fit the style. Blood orange and grapefruit pulp meets a minerally bitterness meets brown and caramel malts, hints of vanilla and wood. Light sweetness, medium long bitterness akin to a nice APA, citrus hops alongside floral notes. Extremely drinkable, nice bitterness - certainly one of the best at the fest.

Cask at Volo for Cask Days 2009.

Pours a murky brown, some orange highlights, very thin off white head forms, settles to almost nothing, no real lacing.

Smell is really neat, lots of malt character, caramel and biscuit, oak, vanilla, orange peel, blood orange is about spot on, some citrusy hop character, lightly herbal and spicy.

Taste is similar, sweet and malty, nuts, caramel, wood, spice, orange, lots of citrus, light floral, a bit fruity, vanilla, neat herbal bitter finish.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied with low carbonation. Kind of a pariah, but pretty interesting stuff.

A: Chestnut amber with a light tan head, great retention & lacing for a cask!

S: Roasted nut, pumpernickel rye bread & some nice hopping.

T: Roasted nut, cocoa, grainy bread, earthy nutshell bitterness.

M: Moderately full body has an off-dry finish.

D: A good drinker.

My first ever Benelux, and its a special cask available at Volo for the cask days event. I ponied up for a half. It was labelled as Amato Texas Reserve Brown, but the brewer informed me it should have been labelled Armada. The only difference to the regular beer is that this is dry-hopped and with added oak chips.

Mahogany pour that kicked up a finger of tan head, and dropped lots of lace on the glass. Sticking my nose in, am I the only one that gets vanilla out of this? Wonderfully complex sweet vanilla, blending in with brown bread, spicy yeast and juicy hops. The flavour is everything an ABA should be, with the aforementioned vanilla, brown bread and spice joining cocoa and mineral notes to deliver a sublime salvo of malts. This is tempered by some nice hop bitterness in the finish that brings balance to this beer. Again - lots of vanilla as if barrel aged. The body is fuller than normal for a cask, and all the better for it, while the mouthfeel is smooth and rich.

Wow - this has wet my appetite for more beers from these guys. Its certainly a highly commendable effort, and maybe my favourite beer from the 30 or so I had over the weekend.