Hokan's Brown Ale
HammerHeart Brewing Company

16 oz can into a barrel glass.
L: Pours medium dark brownwith tobacco edges, light carbo, a 1.5" slightly creamy beige head, 3-4 pours, head recedes to a 3/4" creamy dome then to froth, medium random loose lacing.
S: Caramelized malts, a hint of dark fruits, very distant cocoa, a touch of coffee.
T: Very lightly smoky and gently sweet caramel malts and toasted grains, distant melon rind, a hint of pine resin, light char, an angel's hair of cocoa, a hint of dried dark fruits in the finish.
F: Smooth, gently creamy medium bodied mouthfeel with a glossy center and a slightly dry, clean, medium-length finish.
O: This beer smooths out over time to become velvet smooth and lightly soft. It has a slightly complex hop note with a malt structure that houses quite a bit of flavor. It is excellent in its style.

 

 

 

 

From a 16oz can with no date on it.

The beer is quite dark in the glass, a very dark brown color. There's no clarity to the beer at all .There's a very thick 3 finger tan colored head to the beer that looks somewhat creamy. The head retention is pretty good and there's a bit of lacing on the glass.
The aroma of this beer is, well, quite disappointing. I'm getting almost nothing here, and it makes me sad. There's a super faint malt scent.
The flavor is way better than the nose. There's a nice malty character to the beer. There's a hint of caramel up front to this beer. There's a great nutty hit to the flavor that just builds and builds. There's a nice bitter flavor on the back that just ties it all together very well.
The body is smooth feeling. Creamy feeling. Full bodied.
Hammerheart is well known for their smoked beers. This isn't a smoke beer but the flavor is great. The only knock is the minimal aroma.

From a pint can, pours a very dark brown that has good clarity when held to the light. Massive dense tan head of foam. Maybe more like a porter than a brown ale, but it doesn't matter, this is an exceptionally good beer, with roasted malts and dark fruits set off with a nice bitterness. Another winner.

On the first (gentle, down the side of the glass) pour, when I saw the rapid rise of the head, I stopped pouring immediately. Even so, that's a 4 1/2 inch head above a 1/4 inch body! It did NOT gush out of the can; it's just that the head very rapidly rose to the top of the Imperial pint nonic.

It took 4 small pours to both keep the head from overflowing and get enough liquid in the glass to actually drink.

The beer is a deep dark brown from the front, with a backlight revealing a bit of a red-ruby tint, a bit of murkiness, and gobs of carbonation. The carbonation is no surprise there, given the huge khaki head above a 1/4 inch body in the first pour. Wow!

Excellent retention (or, putting it another way, c'mon man, recede already), meant it took 7-8 minutes to get a first sip! Nice, sticky lacing.

Excellent aroma. Roasted malts, for sure, but also well diversified by dark fruits and even a hint of celery! (Wasn't expecting that.) This "celery" might sound odd, but it added a welcome brightener to the aroma.

The flavor is very good. The backbone is the roasted malts. (And, even though this brewery is known for smoked beers, no smoke.) The flavors on top of the backbone are enjoyable and interesting. With every sip, the nose picks up the subtle celery "spice" (if you've ever used celery from a spice jar in cooking, that's the subtle - hints only - smell in the aroma I'm picking up). The flavor on the tongue broadens into dark fruits, earthiness, and, or course, the roasted malts. The bitterness begins shortly after and builds into the finish and aftertaste. The finish is malty, earthy, and a bitter.

The mouth feel has a moderate body with, despite the head production, little contribution from the carbonation.

As I make successive pours, I have to be very careful as the head builds like that expanding insulation foam to quickly rise to the top of the glass, even if I wait until the glass is nearly empty.

Overall, a well-brewed, tasty brown ale. Even if not exactly "English" style, I like their take on the style.

I just don't know what's up with that rapid-rising head.

From a 16oz can:

Appearance: Brown, good head.

Smell: Roasty, hint of coffee.

Taste: Nice balanced brown ale, roasty flavor throughout. Mild coffee in the finish, no smoke detected.

Overall: Finally got around to reviewing this classic from Hammerheart. I've only had it a couple times at the taproom since there's always something more exciting on the menu, but this brown ale really does it right. Nice roasted flavor, nice balance, and easy drinking for a 6.5% beer. A good break from hoppy beers.

Pours a hazy dark chestnut color with a light tan head. Smell is campfire smoke and roasted malts . Taste has roasted malts,chocolate campfire smoke and nutty bready notes. Mouth feel is medium bodied some mild bitterness and just the right amount of smoke.

750ml bottle. Waxed and capped bottle. Bottled on '02.09.17'.
Medium brown colored body. Two fingers of light tan head, settles back to creamy cap. Leaves behind a few spots of lacing.
Smells dry with roasted malts and caramel.
The taste confirms that this is a dry beer with very little sweetness. Lots of roasted malt, caramel, cocoa, with a woody touchy.
Medium mouth feel. Quite high carbonation.
No smoke as what is found with most Hammerhead beers, but this has close to a burnt char flavor. Lacking sweetness and dry overall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

like all of the beers i have had from these guys, this is not surprisingly of expert quality. something a bit different for them, as it really doesnt present itself as a smoked beer the way their others do, and while the malt bill appears rich and earthy and is certainly complex, smoke is not the lead agent here. instead there is a darker roast to this, almost pushing into the porter realm, with a not quite burnt but very dark barley complexion. there must also be some wheat in here, this has that flavor and body to it, really fluffy and expansive, bigger than most browns, darker for sure, and nuanced on the malt front. raisin, cocoa powder, high cacao dark chocolate, roasted chestnut, minerals, even wood here, although i do not believe this is wood conditioned at all. what i love about it is how dry it is, with all these flavors, none of them are sugars, which makes this quite drinkable despite its depth and complexity. the smoke note on the finish marries into the yeast well, old school and loosely english it seems, a great back and forth there as it winds down. one of the best straight up brown ales out there, really memorable and different. hammerheart has absolutely become one of my favorite minnesota breweries, everything they do is magic!

Pours a hazy, very dark mahogany/garnet colour. Smells like cereal malts, grainy, nutty, a slightly sweet. Tastes like a bitter, nut-brown ale; smooth, slightly roasty, a light grainy-malt body, with a mild, bitter finish. Nutty and buttery aftertaste, and a little dry afterwards.

This could well be one of the best brown ales around. The almost perfect flavor profile with balance makes this one almost worthy of gulping!