Dean Pacific Northwest Mahogany Ale
SingleCut Beersmiths

*On tap opening day, 12/8/2012 at the brewery

A - Hazelnut brown body, nice bone white head, pretty solid lace.

S - Caramel, brown sugar, nutmeg, and a nice leafy hop.

T - Roasty malt, dry earthy hop bitterness on the backend that mellows out and becomes charry and has hints of coffee.

M - Sharp light to medium body, smooth going down, and really drinkable.

O - A pretty solid beer for a first offering.

A- The tallboy pours into a narrow becher with a deep amber to mahogany body and a one inch cap. The head has a foamy and frothy consistency and decent retention. Lacing forms with a few small sheets, not a ton total.

S- Hops have a slight edge over the grains in terms of strength with bright citrus, pine and floral notes leading off in the aroma. The grains suggest some sweetness as well as hints of bread, toast, caramel and slight toffee.

T- The malts gain a bit in terms of the overall balance here and in the end it is a nice hoppy amber with good contributions from both ingredients. Strong notes of pine and floral hops with toasty, caramel, whole wheat bread and moderately sweet malts. Grapefruit and orange come to mind.

MF- Medium bodied and the texture is really soft with a thick, chewy creaminess. Really puffs up a lot on the palate and is extremely smooth with a high level of carbonation. Ends with a fairly strong piney bitterness.

You get the clean Northwest hop profile of pine, citrus and floral hops with a well balanced malt profile all the while the beer is never too sweet. Great texture.

 

 

Looks beautiful. To me, it is a perfect caramel color that I imagine will take perfect. On the nose, there’s a lot of hops. I’m just getting into hoppier ales now after tasting every IPA on the planet, so it may be less hoppier to some. I personally appreciate the balance between hops and malt, which gives it high drinkability. Personally, I think this could be a perfect beer if it were 7-8% ABV to further balance those flavors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2/12...wow. pours rich dark mahogany brown with 1/2 inch of thick fluffy white foam. Strong tree branch and pine nose. Woodsy. Nutty flavor, and strong. Loads of pleasant flavors mix into the bready malt - caramels, toffees, chocolate - kept in check by a firm hop. Excellent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review from notes taken more than a month ago when this was freshly released.

500ml bottle into a teku appears a dark clear mahogany to ruby color with darker khaki cap that fades leaving a wall of spotty lace.

Aroma has a toasty malt bill yet its fruity, hoppy and inviting. Taste brings the same biscuit malt flavor and herbal hop bitterness.

Medium in body, modestly carbonated and an overall pleasant hoppy brown ale or whatever this is.