Headbangerz Brown Ale
Bavarian Barbarian Brewing Company

Headbangerz Brown AleHeadbangerz Brown Ale
Beer Geek Stats | Print Shelf Talker
From:
Bavarian Barbarian Brewing Company
 
Pennsylvania, United States
Style:
English Brown Ale
ABV:
4.8%
Score:
79
Avg:
3.38 | pDev: 20.41%
Reviews:
27
Ratings:
33
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Aug 21, 2012
Added:
Feb 26, 2008
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
No description / notes.
View: More Beers
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
 
Rated: 2 by t0rin0 from California

Aug 21, 2012
 
Rated: 3.75 by yergermeister from Pennsylvania

Apr 20, 2012
 
Rated: 1 by JustinMatthew from Pennsylvania

Dec 10, 2011
 
Rated: 4 by djrn2 from New Jersey

Dec 10, 2011
 
Rated: 4 by nh2032 from New York

Nov 20, 2011
 
Rated: 3 by Jspriest from Pennsylvania

Nov 14, 2011
Photo of mikesgroove
Reviewed by mikesgroove from South Carolina

3.48/5  rDev +3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
thick dark brown, almost black with a 1 inch caramel head, quickly fades, with some residual lace. Smell right off is chocolate, spice, and caramel. Taste is almost coffee like, very nice actually, with a good hoppy after taste. This was very smoothe, somewhat thick but not overally so at all.
Nov 04, 2011
Photo of hondo2160
Reviewed by hondo2160 from New Jersey

2.35/5  rDev -30.5%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2
The most sour brown ale I have ever had. Excess carbonation makes me think there's a slight infection happening. Sour smell adds to that suspicious. Was really looking forward to this...disappointed. I'll give it another shot though. I like buying local and am hoping this is just a bad bottle.
Oct 05, 2011
Photo of SickGnar
Reviewed by SickGnar from Pennsylvania

3.5/5  rDev +3.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
A: Deep mahogany, very deep garnet when backlit. Quite clear, despite dark color. Small to decent size light tan head fades pretty fast and doesn’t leave much for lace.

S: Nut brown smell. Toasty grains, nutty malts, caramel & toffee sweetness, a bit of chocolate and soft hints at roast. Nice malt spectrum and decent strength. No hops.

T: Similar to nose, but even more nutty character. Nutty and toasty are front and center. Caramel and toffee are less sweet than in the nose. Chocolate fades a bit and roast comes out more – especially at the end and into the finish. Just a faint hint of herbal / grassy balancing hops middle and into the finish. A pretty darn nice brown overall.

M: Less than medium body. Leaning toward british (low) carbonation level. Soft and smooth, but also a tad thin for all that is going on flavor-wise. Roast malts take the finish a tad drying.

D: An easy drinking, flavorfull, nut brown rounded out by some nice roast notes. It could use a bit more body to carry all the flavor. Not more sweetness though, keep the focus on the nutty, toasty, and roasty. Good beer, but rather tame for its name.
Sep 03, 2011
Photo of almychristopher
Reviewed by almychristopher from New York

3.74/5  rDev +10.7%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
this beer pours a translucent brown with a thin head that fades quickly. the aroma brings a nice bit of chocolate with the roasted malt sweetness. the taste brings a nice amount of the promised f dark malt, the sweetness leads to a nice crisp finish. good co2 and medium mouth feel make this a nice light drinkable brown.
Aug 23, 2011
Photo of akorsak
Reviewed by akorsak from Pennsylvania

3.8/5  rDev +12.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
The Barbarians are invading the 'burbs. A pint at the Farmer's Daughter in Blue Bell.

A: The brown ale is appropriately tagged, a murky caramel brown that verges on opaque. Atop the morass, an off-white head, nearly a finger in size, hangs out through most of the glass.

S: The nose has plenty of caramel and toffee, both syrupy sweet. The malty base stands out, yielding only to balancing earthy hops.

T: More caramel and toffee, this time smoothed out by nutty flavors as well. The triple threat of malt flavors works well, creating a near-cloying taste that never manages to go too far. Darker flavors are also evident, pushing back the brown ale territory, with a sweeter molasses presence leading the charge. Hops are a little more assertive in the taste, peaking through before the malts can get too strong.

M: The sweet base of the ale greatly aids the mouthfeel, keeping it smooth and low in bitterness. Very sweet though, with the caramel and toffee never resting.
May 08, 2011
Photo of Bendurgin
Reviewed by Bendurgin from Maine

2.83/5  rDev -16.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Got this one in a trade with Anthonylalota. Poured into a tumbler. The beer pours a murky hazelnut brown with a pretty big light tan head. Kind of a bitter aroma kind of dirty and a bit musty. Nutty flavor on this, must. I feel like this is lacking some of the malt character that are assosiated with brown ales. Kind of a sharp carbonation on this but the body is kind of light. Average beer here. It's not the worst but I'd take a lot of other browns before this one.
Mar 03, 2011
Photo of mvanaskie13
Reviewed by mvanaskie13 from Pennsylvania

3.87/5  rDev +14.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
Finishing off one of my last bottles from a trip north, bottles were picked up by my bro at the brewery.

Poured into glass, presented with very feint head, but I'm giving this one up to the fact it is a bit too cold. Otherwise, nice light tan head ring, main body is deep amber, brown, somewhat translucent.

Smell presented weakly, so I spun it around to warm it up a bit and got some more out of it, with hints of spicy sweetness, moloasses a hint of chocalate. Surprised by the spiciness of it, but I like it.

Taste is a smooth sweetness, with the hints of spiciness presenting as herbal mixed with the roasted flavor of molasses and hint of toffee. Not overpowering flavors but well done.

Mouthfeel is well balanced, flavors hit the tongue and cheek nicely.

Its been a while since I have had this, but the more taste it the more I like it, looking forward to having it on draft here in Philly sometime soon.
Sep 21, 2010
Photo of Soonami
Reviewed by Soonami from Pennsylvania

3.45/5  rDev +2.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Bavarian Barbarian's Headbangerz Brown Ale suffers from unrealized expectations the name gives that the beer could not deliver. I was expecting a roasty, hoppy, flavorful Brown Ale, but instead got a mild, smooth brown that did not make my head bang. I think that my expectations definitely changed my perception of the beer. It's like calling a beer Hopzilla, but having it taste like an American Light Lager.

The beer was a light brown with little foam or lacing. The smell was of stale pretzels, toffee and slightly herbal. The beer did not have the depth of roasted character I was expecting, no chocolate or rich malt, and the under-bittered for my taste. The beer was carbonated well and smooth on the palate and on the way down.
Sep 11, 2010
Photo of woosterbill
Reviewed by woosterbill from Kentucky

3.1/5  rDev -8.3%
look: 5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
Bomber, received as an extra from Beerman777, into a Duvel tulip.

A: A moderately vigorous pour yields a towering 3-finger head of soft tan foam that beautifully fills the top half of the tulip and contrasts nicely with the deep reddish-brown body beneath. The voluminous head recedes at a measured pace, leaving lumps of creamy foam throughout and lots of frothy lace. Phenomenal-looking brown ale.

S: Not much to it, unfortunately. Nothing but thin, sweet, nutty malt, with some caramel character as well. Pretty bland and boring.

T: Starts out with the nutty character from the nose, then gets metallic and a little sour (ala Newcastle), and finishes with more generic thin sweetness. Definitely in the English tradition, but not even as good as Newcastle.

M: Way too thin, but balanced with ample carbonation.

D: Despite being a bit watery, this has just enough of a sour tang to it (and not in a good way) to make it less than pleasant to quaff.

Notes: At times this beer seems to have a glimmer of something interesting going on, but it always seems to fade away into thinness. That said, it's an absolutely gorgeous example of the style, and with a bit more body and some hops it could become a really tasty brew. Thanks, Steve, for the chance to try it.

Cheers!
Jun 04, 2010
Photo of morimech
Reviewed by morimech from Minnesota

3.18/5  rDev -5.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5
Pours a slightly hazy reddish brown with a huge sand colored head that had excellant retention. Quite a bit of lacing is left on the glass. Smells like a nice brown ale. A lot of malt with slight hints of nuts and toffee. Just a faint hint of hops gives some floral, minty elements. Wow, what happened to the flavor. There is hardly anything there. Just a little toasted bread flavor and that is about it. Nothing off with the flavor, there is almost a complete lack of flavor. The body is too thin and watery. Just because the ABV is low does not mean the flavor and body need to suffer. Carbonation is nice but it cannot do much with this body. It goes down like water and not much harm from the ABV, but that is not really a good thing. It is one of those "why bother" type of beers. Needs a lot more flavor and body.
Jun 01, 2010
Photo of mikereaser
Reviewed by mikereaser from Pennsylvania

2.56/5  rDev -24.3%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Poured from a bottle on 12-17-09.

A - pours a hazy chestnut brown with very little foam at all

S - it had a weird plastic aroma to it, some malts too but dominated by the off smell

T - malty backbone with some strong lemony taste coming through

M/D - good carbonation, crisp mouthfeel, the flavor is weird. I'm thinking it might be a bad bottle. I'll look for it again to see if thats the case.
May 21, 2010
Photo of kiddynamite920
Reviewed by kiddynamite920 from Pennsylvania

2.95/5  rDev -12.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3
After a frightening experience of looking down in my beer and seeing a large spider, thinking the beer had been sitting with a spider in it since bottling, the spider moved and I realized the spider must have been in my glass without even noticing. Whoa. Luckily I only poured about 1-2 ounces before seeing the black monster floating in my beer. Bomber poured into an 11.2 Sam Smith nonic.

A: A fairly transparent reddish, brown with very minimal head. A bit light for a brown ale.

S: Smells of caramel malts and a bit of a gingerbread type spice. Malt forward beer, but nothing that stands out. Smells quite plain.

T: Very light caramel, a wheaty/grainy flavor and a bit of fruitiness. Light all around. A bit bready.

M: Thin and undercarbonated, was hoping for a bigger body and more caramel malts and some roastiness. Everything was lacking for a brown ale. Figured Headbangerz would be a larger brown ale, but it seems more like a brown ales younger brother.

D: Easy to drink, but the body is horribly lacking and so is the flavor department. Would say the best aspect of this beer is its aroma, which was average at best. I suppose it could be a good beginner brown ale.
May 13, 2010
Photo of BeerIsland
Reviewed by BeerIsland from Pennsylvania

4.07/5  rDev +20.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
Whilst looking at my profile, I noticed this would be my 100th review. Slow learner !

I ran into my first "Barbarian" at Otto's up on 611, a venerable establishment keeping all things german for the past 80 years. Out of all those wonderful german beers, the double axe tap handle really stood out. I asked the barmaid for a taste and really liked it, so ordered a whole glass. I think browns in general don't get much cred on this site but I find them very drinkable and full flavored. The 'bangerz was no exception. It showed up nice and dark brown although the head dissapated pretty quickly. It did lace its way down the "Otto's" mug very well, though. There's a very nice malty nose advertising the rich malty flavor to come. Rounded out by a light hops touch, this was a well balanced, incredibly quaffable beer.
May 09, 2010
Photo of tim9887
Reviewed by tim9887 from Pennsylvania

3.73/5  rDev +10.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
22oz bottle poured into a mug. Pours deep reddish-brown with not a whole lot of off-white head. Copious caramel notes in the nose, less so in the flavor which was good - the aroma seemed way too sweet for me but the flavor wasn't as bad. Caramel/chocolate sweet malt character. Bit of roasty character, a nice ale altogether. Very drinkable.
May 08, 2010
Headbangerz Brown Ale from Bavarian Barbarian Brewing Company
Beer rating: 79 out of 100 with 33 ratings