Dave’s Cubano Brown Ale
South Street Brewery

On tap:
Pours a fairly deep brown, seemingly clear with a backlight. Head could be a little more prevalent.

Coffee is nicely represented, with a bitter andcslightly astringent note. Deep roasted with a dark toasty note accenting.

Flavor follows, but leans in the brown ale more initially. I view this as a good thing. Coffee hits later, but the groundwork from the beginning adds a bit of weakness to the roast. The feel hurts a tad here, as well. Thee are minor detractors from a beer than provides a decent balance of base and additives.

Definitely worth a try if you've enjoyed similar beers in the past, though weaker (what isn't) than Sumatra Brown.

 

Served on-tap in a Shaker pint at South Street Brewery (Charlottesville, VA).

A: Dull brown with short cap of off-white head with short retention and some scattered lace blobs.

S: Wonderful aroma with dark roasted coffee with a solid brown ale profile of medium caramel malts, very light roasted character and light herbal hopping. Mild yeast esters, mainly light fruitiness, with no alcohol notes.

T: Stellar use of coffee in this great tasting brown ale. The coffee character is subdued but more than a bit player lending some dark French roast to medium and dark caramel and date dark malt flavors. Very smooth and well-integrated coffee with a lightly sweet malty brown ale base. Herbal lightly bitter hopping. No real yeast or alcohol in the flavor. Really a well-crafted beer.

M: Creamy and smooth with medium carbonation and light-medium body.

O: I was really pleasantly surprised by this beer -- really delicious and well-crafted. By far it is the best South Street beer I have had from their new lineup.