Dundee Nut Brown Ale
Genesee Brewing Co. / Dundee Brewing Co.

3.75/5  rDev +14.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Poured into a mug, the appearance was a semi-thick burnt dark orange to copper almost brown color with a quickly dissipating little white foamy head. Some lace but sliding for the most part.
The aroma had a nice contour of sweet and roasty nuts, a tickle of hazelnut, maybe some chestnut, light milk chocolate, caramel/toffee sweetness and a light earthy sweetness on the back end.
The flavor was moderately sweet pulling all of the prior mentioned aromas in for a great balance. Mild aftertaste of all of those nuts, chocolate seemed to way further back.
The mouthfeel was between light and medium bodied with a fair sessionability about it. Carbonation felt fairly low, but wasn't bothersome to me. ABV felt on par. Smooth crisp nutty sweet finish.
Overall, pretty nice as an English brown ale that I would have again.

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3.15/5  rDev -3.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Comes out of the bottle a clear, bubbly chestnut with a fairly thick and fluffy pale wheat head. Malty aroma is not strong but has nice caramel and nutty hints. Satisfying, if not outstanding, flavor has a malty core and hints of hazelnut (no surprise) and caramel. Texture is about average in the fizz and fullness departments. If no great shakes, still tasty and enjoyable.

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3.51/5  rDev +7.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5

Brown ales are my favorite style.
12 oz bottle, poured a very clear rich brown walnut/mahogany, with a eye popping large tan head with sticky lacing, and very good retention.

Aroma: Yeast and malts. I get some chocolate, molasses and the smell of cold metal.

Taste, Malts roasty and toasty, sweet. Despite the roasted malts it is thin, on the palate.
I always like a good brown ale, and while not a great brown, I would be happy to have another one of these.

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3.07/5  rDev -6.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3

12 oz bottle, poured a very clear beer, rich brown walnut/mahogany. With a decently large headeof creamy off-white head, sticky lacing, and pretty good retention.

S - hmm, bready metallic notes, hazelnuts yes, but a citrus zip also. Bready foremost, some nutty dried fruit notes like an xmas torte, but really bland and a bit on the metaliic artificial side.

T - a malty nutty profile, a bit of a sour metallic-ness. Wholegrain bread, marmalade, hazelnuts, but a harshness underlying. I think adding flavoring might have contributed to the artificial feeling metalic notes that really come to the fore here and work to undermine the beer. Finish is bready, citrus and hazelnut shavings, a little dry but also lingers for quite awhile.

M - moderate body, good amount of filling carbonation, quite an easy approachable body. Sessionable initially but a cloying metalic slickness really undermines it.

Nothing about this is really worth seeking, go have sam smiths instead. This has a much thinner malt profile, little retrained hops and an all round artificial and metallic character. I finished the beer, but not an experience I particularly enjoyed, you have to work to get this down. Doesn't get better as it warms either, avoid.

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3.69/5  rDev +12.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Appearance - Dark Amber with a white head.

Smell - light malt .

Taste - Crisp and malty with a slight hazelnut aftertaste

Mouthfeel - Smooth - hidden alcohol and dry nutty finish.

Overall - Nice beer. Worth trying a six pack.

Serving type: Bottle.

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3.63/5  rDev +11%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5

Type: 12-oz. bottle
Glass: Firestone pint glass
From: BevMo in Mission Valley (San Diego), Calif.
Price: $14.99 for a BevMo variety 8-pack (w/ BevMo card)
Purchased: Dec. 31, 2013
Consumed: Jan. 4, 2014
Misc.: N/A

Poured a reddish amber clear color with 2-to-3 fingers of khaki white head. Lots of bubbles coming up from the bottom of the glass. Lots of uneven foamy lacing along the sides of the glass. Very good retention on the top.

Smelled a pleasant whiff of caramel, toffee, roasted nuts, hazelnut, espresso, light chocolate and some honey. Not a lot, but very good.

Tasted pretty close to the nose, but not quite as good. Got roasted bitter nuts, hazelnut, espresso, caramel, toffee, honey and some metallic notes.

Medium body. Oily texture. Average carbonation. Abrupt finish.

This beer had its moments for sure. A couple of my ratings could have changed a tick or two either way, but the finish wasn’t matched by the start.

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3.19/5  rDev -2.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

Pours a clear reddish-copper with a foamy beige head that settles to a partial film on top of the beer. Foamy rings of lace line the glass on the drink down. Smell is of toasted malt, caramel, and some slightly nutty aromas. Taste is much the same with malty and subdued nutty flavors on the finish. There is a mild amount of roasty bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a good level of carbonation with a crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is an average beer that is drinkable but nothing too exciting.

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3.15/5  rDev -3.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

Appearance: It pours a light brown color and is topped with ¾” of white colored head that tends to cling to the glass as I sip the beer.
Smell: It smells of a good malt base with a decent amount of nut aroma hanging in the glass.
Taste: The flavor is not quite as tasty as I was hoping it has a good nutty flavor but the malt backbone seems to be lacking.
Mouthfeel: This is a rather thin and watery nut brown that is lacking is some of the main areas of the style.

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4/5  rDev +22.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

poured from a 12 oz bottle into a pint glass, served at room temp.

dark amber beer with minimal bubble showing supports a Pecan Sandy colored head. Good lacing.

aroma: faint caramel with equally faint hoppiness. Alcohol esters present. the aroma is good but not very strong.

mouthfeel: is good, fully and chewy.

taste: malt bomb like eating whole wheat bread, a touch of sweetness with just the right amount of hops to cut through the malty sweetness.

notes: surprisingly good, easily the best Dundee beer I've had. will buy again.

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3.21/5  rDev -1.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

This poured out as a clear looking brown color with an off white head on top. The retention was pretty good on this beer but the lacing wasn't. The smell of the beer is earthy with toasted aromas and subtle chocolate. The taste is pretty basic with just a typical toasted flavor and subtle bitterness in the finish. The mouthfeel had a decent carbonation to it and it was lighter bodied. Overall it's an average beer, nothing too exciting but it was drinkable.

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3.5/5  rDev +7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

on tap at the thirsty turtle, victor, ny. free glassware promotion and BMC alternatives coerced me to get a few of these. the beer is a lighter shade of brown, with plenty of light able to pass through, and about an inch of white foam rests on top, but dissipates quickly. i smell a lot of euro malt, caramel and something with a little toast to it. the sweetness stays in the flavor, and reminds me more of a bag of extract. i do smell and taste a little vanilla, as well as some standard ale yeast that gives the beer a little life. gentle chocolate tones in the finish as well, not a bad brown ale all up, but one that could be rounded out a little bit by fermenting some of this residual sugar to take the sweetness out of the finish and drive up the abv to a wintery level. good carbonation and a thinner body make this pretty drinkable, if a little bit unexciting. dundee is hindered by its large brewing capacity at genessee, but this is certainly a passable attempt.

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3.2/5  rDev -2.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

This brew was served from the tap at The Genesee Brew House in Rochester, NY. It arrived in a house hefe glass glowing a golden amber brown. It held a one finger head of crisp, tannish bubbles. This showed nice retention, leaving spidery lacing down the glass. No haze or sediment was noted, and carbonation appeared average. The nose was light and sour, with sweetness of floral hops, and bitterness from medicinal phenols. The grain was cheap and adjuncty, with metallics. With warmth the sweetness of caramel malts and booze made it sniff much like a Scotch ale, but only milder. Our first impression was that the flavoring was on the light side, and interestingly sweet. As we sipped, soured grain of caramel and pale malts hit first. These paved the way for lemon rind, grit, and mineral, with light caramel sugars to balance. The peak showed faint banana esters, and more sweet roast to the caramel in the malts. A smoothness of walnut and coolness of mild honey pulled us to the finish, where the sourness of lemon and orange rind hit, with drying musk and light woody tannins. The aftertaste breathed more of the same, with sweetness of caramel, light roast, lemony tea, and musk. The body was medium, and the carbonation was medium. Each sip was wet and creamy, with decent froth, slurp, smack, and glug. Otherwise the mouth was cooled, with little coating other than a faint tannin pucker. The abv was appropriate, and the beer sipped fine.

Overall, what we enjoyed most about this brew was the aroma. With warmth it did truly smell like a baby Scotch ale. There was good sweetness and heat off the top, with a hearty depth to the malts. The problem was that it was a bit mild and washed through. The flavoring, however, was overly soured and inclusive of thick bitters of citric rind and a hollow sweetness to caramel malts. This left the palate unbalanced, and at times confused as to what the ultimate goal of the brewers was with this one.

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4.76/5  rDev +45.6%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

omg what a great beer its a english brown ale what more do u need to know if you love english brown ale then drink up it has a great taste love it smells boozy but it not the color in the glass is wonderful drink up men wonderful frist taste to the last time always to taste another dundee beer and this is worth a good beer at a low price love it

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2.76/5  rDev -15.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Pours a mahogany color, decent head to it. Not much aroma to this one.. at all. Taste is medium bodied, not the best of mouthfeels. Taste has a bit of nuttiness and roastiness in it, with a tinge of hops, seem a bit out of balance. Finishes somewhat clean... pretty average, if not below average brown ale. One of my more liked styles, but this one doesn't really do it for me. Luckily it's part of a mixed pack and the other ones have been pretty good, I'd pass on this in the future.

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3.15/5  rDev -3.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Poured from bottle into pint glass

Appearance – Pours a medium clear brown color with a billowing off white head with big carbonation bubbles entrapped within.. The head has good retention and eventually fades to leave a light level of lacing.

Smell – The smell is of brown bread, caramel and hazelnut; sweet roasted nut describes it best.

Taste – The taste is rather surprising. While I was expecting something of sweeter malt up front it was rather dry. A dry roasty biscuit flavor meets the tongue. While caramel is big in the nose it is not heavily present in the taste at all. The initial roasty biscuit flavors are meet with a roasted nut flavor more toward the middle of the taste. This mix of flavors lasts to the end of the taste where a little bitterness sits and lingers on the tongue.

Mouthfeel –The body and carbonation are both very average. A thicker body would have suited the flavors better, but the lighter body makes it go down very easily. Overall average.

Overall – Not bad, but it lacks some of the caramel sweetness and thicker body that would likely have accentuated the taste of the beer. All in all it has a good roasty nuttiness, but is a little too bitter.

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3.5/5  rDev +7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

A= appropriate-to-style medium brown, modest off-white head.

S= mild fresh-laundry bleach malts nose, some nuttiness, floral hops.

T= pretty much according to style, not bad, a solid entry, not overly noteable. Nutty (light hazelnut is identifiable), some slightly dry nice malts, modest green grassy notes, adequate hops florals and bitters.

M= lightly dry with light nut.

O= a decent offering in its style.

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3.98/5  rDev +21.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Clear chestnut brown with a solid finger-plus of off white head. Decent retention.

A bit of esters, some floral hopping, and a healthy dose of toasted malt. Hazelnut aroma is like watered down frangelico.

Sweet toasted malts upfront, then some fairly clean bitterness, followed by caramel and hazelnut. A bit sweet for me. Surprisingly elegant and drinkable.

Medium bodied with lowish carbonation.

A surprisingly well done take on an northern english brown. A bit too sweet for the style, but the hazelnut flavoring is well integrated. An easy drinker for sure, but well made.

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3.6/5  rDev +10.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

An aggressive pour into my Leinenkugle Imperial Pint glass, revels a medium brown beer with a massive tan head. There is a bit of sticky lacing. Not a bad looker!

The beer has a nice smell of lightly roasted grains, a bit of toffee and whisper of hops (from the bottle, they are Willamette).

The beer is mildly sweet with brown sugar, Rollo and lightly roasted malts. A little nutty and fruity mid glass. No off or odd notes.

The mouth needs be thickened up a bit and I think this is the only real weakness in the beer.

This went well with my ham & cheese on a pretzel roll. I would have this one again.

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3.85/5  rDev +17.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

My local trader, Tone77, brought over a whole buncha beers for me the other day and I am anxious to try all of them. I am not striving for fancy or chasing after the latest hot commodity, but instead sampling as widely and variously as possible.

From the bottle: "Originally brewed using the Yorkshire square system of fermentation, the nut brown ale calls the North of England home. A hint of hazelnut, a dash of rich caramel and a sprinkle of chocolate malt all intertwine with the flowery bouquet of Willamette hops to produce a round-bodied ale worthy of its homeland. Take a leaf out of our buddy, Cyril the red squirrel's book, and enjoy a Dundee Nut Brown Ale in your own drey. (Drey is a squirrel's nest. See, you learned something too.)"

Ha! I like learning while I drink. Cyril, by the way, is featured on the front label, in his smoking jacket with a lit pipe, an open nut brown ale and an acorn cap. I will be forced to make do with just a beer.

My aggro pour created a two-plus finger cap of fizzy light-tan head with moderate retention. I could really smell the hazelnut on the nose. Color was a deep-brown with NE-quality clarity. As the head subsided, I leaned in for a better whiff and the hazelnut was still very evident, but now with a chocolaty quality. Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, approaching, but not quite achieving creaminess. It was a sweet beer, to be sure, with the chocolate and hazelnut interacting nicely on the tongue to give it sort of a candy bar quality. It was on the finish that I caught the floweriness of the hops, and by flowers, they mean lilac, violet, or something equally perfume-like in its scent. Overall, not a bad beer, but just a bit too sweet for a self-avowed hophead.

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3.66/5  rDev +11.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Dundee Nut Brown Ale is a very clear, very sparkling brown ale with a dense, waxy, off white head that has great retention and lacing. It smells nutty, malty, a little sweet and metallic. It's light bodied and quite lively. The finish is pretty clean. The flavor is pretty well balanced. It's nutty with an herbal bitterness. There are notes of chocolate, metal and something Irish. It's really easy drinking. The metal flavor is a little distracting, but there's enough flavor to keep some interest. I could go through a few of these.

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3.3/5  rDev +0.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Poured into a Dogfish Head glass.

This brew pour a light clear brown, the shade of a copper penny. It starts off with a thick creamy head that diminishes to a thin collar. There is no lacing to speak of. The aroma features subtle roasted notes intertwined with sweeter caramel notes. Notes of cashew come through. The taste starts with some toasted grains and gives way to a sweet molasses and toffee character. The flavor is there, but tastes a tad watered down. The body is thin and the carbonation is low. This is the best brew from the Dundee mix pack that I have sampled.

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2.36/5  rDev -27.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

12 fl oz brown glass bottle served in a pint glass, reviewed live:

A - Pours a translucent brown color with a rocky off-white head of 2.5 fingers. Retention is very good, and the head leaves a good bit of lacing, though it seems over-carbonated.

S - Toasted malt, caramel, cream and light bittering hops. Simple and mild. I hope the nuts come through on the tongue.

T - A watery open gives to light nutty tones (though I wouldn't pick it out as hazelnut). It's got a bland malty body that really doesn't do anything for the beer. I don't really find any hops notes. The beer's got a really strange metallic aftertaste that further hinders any subtle notes that may be present. Very poorly executed.

M - Highly carbonated, medium bodied, thick, and has a strange tongue coating finish to go along with the metallic note.

D - Really just not very good in any aspect. Maybe this sampler pack wasn't the best one to pick...

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3.25/5  rDev -0.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Into a pint glass (also for some odd reason also had in a borrowed chalice, nothing changed):

A: dark brown colored body with a somewhat off-white frothy head with slight lacing that slides down the glass

S: sweet nutty malt with some caramel

T: slight coffee bitterness followed by some light nutty maltiness

M: light and has some harshness on the tongue, sessionable, no aftertaste and finish

O: a decent beer that I would have again, but would rather have it on tap if offered.

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3.57/5  rDev +9.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

12 oz.

Pours translucent dark brown, reddish tint around the edges, medium whitish head.

Smells of bready roasted malts, some brown sugar and chocolate-like bitterness.

Tastes of caramel and brown sugar malts, lightly toasted, and a bit nutty.

Medium body with medium carbonation.

Pretty decent brown ale, nothing groundbreaking but it hit the spot. Wouldn't turn it down in the future.

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3.96/5  rDev +21.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Appearance: Pours out a clear, dark garnet-hued body with a sensibly sized, ivory-hued head.

Smell: Sweetish, malty notes of semi-sweet chocolate, pale malts, toasted caramel, and the addition of hazelnut over a thin dried herb backdrop.

Taste: Pale malts, chocolaty malts, and caramel-tasting malts melding together, along with the dash of hazelnut flavoring, to give an overall nutty taste, as one might expect and rightfully demand given a cheeky squirrel on the front label. Lightly spicy, faintly floral hops with a low bitterness. Sweetish, still reasonably nutty on the finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium carbonation. Fairly smooth mouthfeel.

Overall: A pleasing nut brown ale; simple, but solidly structured. While it's not quite a Rogue Hazelnut Nectar, the entire Dundee 12-pack mixer cost me only a few quarters more than a six-pack of Rogue's.

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