1884 First Brown Ale
Atwater Brewery

This is a 12oz. can poured into my Atwater can shaped pint glass. The pour was perfect, nearly two fingers of beautiful fluffy tan head over a dark ale that glows red when held up to the light. The cap faded away rather quickly leaving no lacing behind. The carbonation is hidden in this dark ale.
The aroma is fresh nuts and caramel malts.
The flavor is a slight dry roasted malt with the smooth sweet caramel and a lightly hopped bitter finish that cuts the sweetness nicely. Something seems off here, a metal type flavor that messes with the finish.
This ale is easy to drink, the flavor is nice, other than the metallic flavors and it is only slightly bitter.

A: Dark reddish tones highlight the medium brown pour with a creamy one half inch walnut toned head atop. Moderately retaining the head breaches to a brisk covering with some fanfare left on the glass. Tiny steady streams of perfectly aligned bubbles burst upwards in a straight and narrow path.

S: Toasted walnuts with a warm nuttiness on the aroma. Sweet caramel malts interject, along with some creamer coffee. Rich chocolate with some marshmallow scents with a strength that was slightly above average per style. Juicy figs, toffee, and vienna provide a nice sweet worty-malt touch while a sprinkling of cardamon rounds out.

T: Earthy brown malts, sweet, with some creamer coffee start the flavor off very good. Rich chocolate roast that was very smooth mixes with toasted vienna malts and toffee like sweetness. Caramel nuttiness, sweet, with some cola really shines finishes with some dry powdery like vanilla lacing. The caramel coffee and malting is what I found particularly enjoyable here.

M: Smooth and creamy mouthful does not disappoint, with a good solid foundation and feel. Malty big body, earthy roast warms the inner cheeks with a toasted like flair left behind on the tongue.

O: Earthy and sweet, malt forward beer has a smooth transition of flavors, bold, yet eloquent nature, and is perfectly paired with the coming northeast fall weather. Well balanced, provides a good first impression and lasts to the end. Great drinkability, strong malty base, and only wish more people tackled browns like this.

 

A very solid brown ale. Mouthfeel is a little thin and the flavor could be a bit fuller but it's very smooth and drinkable. Low carbonation and small head.

I want to update my review for 2019, this time from a can. Is this the same beer they brewed last year? It seems lighter in both color and flavor and this time it has a huge head. Last year's batch, as noted in my prior review, had a very small head.

 

12 ounce bottle into pint glass, bottled in 10/2018. Pours slightly hazy deep ruby red, light copper/brown color with a 1 finger fairly dense and fluffy light khaki head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a light amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of caramel, brown sugar, toffee, brown bread, toasted biscuit, and nuts; with lighter notes of chocolate, cocoa, coffee, dark fruit, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good complexity and balance of dark/bready/light roasted malts and light earthy hop notes; with solid strength. Taste of big caramel, brown sugar, toffee, brown bread, toasted biscuit, and nuts; with lighter notes of chocolate, cocoa, coffee, dark fruit, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Light herbal, grassy, peppery hop; and roast bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of caramel, brown sugar, toffee, brown bread, toasted biscuit, nuts, chocolate, cocoa, coffee, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/toasted earthiness for a good bit. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/light roasted malts and light earthy hop flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance, and no cloying/astringent flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from lingering bitterness. Light-medium carbonation and medium body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/bready, and lightly sticky/chalky mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 5.5%. Overall this is a very nice American brown ale. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/light roasted malts and light earthy hop flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the mellowly bitter/drying finish. Very flavorful for the ABV. Nicely clean and rich malt complexity; with solid earthy hop balance against sweetness. A very enjoyable offering, and spot on style example.