Mad Molly's Brown Ale
Golden City Brewery

 

Mad Molly's Brown is a very, very dark English Brown Ale. Could be mistaken for opaque black when first poured. To light shows the hazy, thick garnet hue. Cloudy, thick looking. Decent light taupe head. Lacing looks to be quite intricate. Smell is at first a tinny blast of adjunct like aromas, not a good sign. bit of swirling brings out more of a fruity hop profile. A touch of roasty grains, but still with a distinct tinny aroma. On sipping, this beer has some real English qualities. Apples are dominant flavor, sweet. Lacking the warming, toasty, bready flavors I've come to love in American Brown Ales. Flavors are almost crisp. A touch of caramel flavor in the finish, all wrapped up in a noticeable hoppiness. Further drinking brings out some mild coffee notes, an almond-like nuttiness. Has an underlying flavor I can't identify that I don't care too much for.

Overall, a perfectly acceptable session English brown. Nothing extreme, nothing too awful about it. A bit bland for me. Probably my least favorite of GCB's brews, but there are plenty of other really good beers they make, so no loss.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This seems to be the flagship brew for Golden City, and it stays true to their habit of mainstreaming* the hell out of their products. This is a Brown Ale for people who like Bud-Light, which is actually excellent in its own special type of way. For example, say you have someone with you while you are at a craft brewery and you don't think that they will have a taste for anything that strays too far a field from mass market beer, well a Molly Brown would be perfect for that person. Its a great "starter" craft beer, but nothing if not average.

* When I say mainstreamed, what I mean is that the beer stays true to its original style, but that it is pulled towards a more homogenized, more suburban, more "blah" elements of that style. Its not experimental, not memorable, just very, very safe. Which isn't bad in and of itself, but if you want to get great scores from people like me, you need to push the limits, not stay within the confines of what you know works.