Brown Bearale
Aspen Brewing Co.

 

 

 

 

nice to have a beer from these guys that isnt the ipa or the blonde, so glad they do that still, but this was rather unimpressive. fresh though, on tap at their taproom in aspen, its in a pint glass and clear, glowing amber, light for the style, but has a nose of sweeter chocolate malt and warm fermented ale yeast, maybe english, definitely a little bready. the flavor is fine, if a bit generic, tastes like a million other safe brown ales, but the body is very thin, distractingly so, and in a climate where people come in off the mountain to warm up, i would expect they would have made a much more robust brown ale than this, more hearty and fulling and strong and rich, but that just didnt happen. the beer isnt bad, but it fits the context very poorly. these are the kinds of little things that make average beer less so, or decent beer good, you have to be aware of these contextual things, and its obvious these guys overlooked that on this beer, as much as i can still drink a pint in a few minutes...

 

 

 

One finger of head with a brown/red body.
It has a great nutty aroma; bold and good.
The taste is malty and pure nuttiness. It's simple but a straight brown ale flavor.
Smooth texture with a little fizz. Moderate carbonation and medium body.
An easy drinking beer that hits the brown ale style perfectly.

 

 

Had a pint at the Aspen Brewing Tap Room.

A: Pours a nice deep dark brown with a nice cream head, excellent lacing.

S: Oatmeal, chocolate and subtle hops.

T: The malt really shines on this one, very chocolaty. There is a slight hop bitterness, perhaps marmalade. Slight coffee and subtle vanilla.

M: Very smooth, not overly carbonated. Leaves you wanting more.

O: A good brown ale, reminds me of Surly Bender, delicious, smooth with some great complexity to it.

A: Deep brown color, amber areound the edges up to the light. Poured an off-white billowy with fari retention. Decent lacing.

S: Big roasted malts, light chocolate and a bitter punch; quite interesting.

T: Deep, dark roasted malts. Distinct and significant bitter finish.

M: Full body. Low carbonation gives it a silky smooth and creamy texture. Easily what I liked best about this beer

D: Very drinkable brown ale balancing flavor, compexity and texturee flavor. At 6% abv, a few are good.

This is as good a brown ale as you could hope to encounter. Pours a dark brown with a big, fluffy head. The smell is stongly roasted malt and the flavor follows along - powerful roasted malt with a slight woody bitterness at the end. The real star here is the mouthfeel, which is astonishingly cream. It's a beer you want to roll around in your mouth and savor, as much for the texture as for the flavor, which is great in its own right. This is a wonderful brown ale.