Barnwood Brown
County Line Brewing

a very well made brown, objectively one of their better beers here, its robust, darker for the style and a little stronger than a lot of them, but its very professionally done, nothing weighty or bulky about it, it just has a ton of flavor, very smooth to drink on though, i was impressed with this at the brewery this weekend. it looks almost like a porter, not big in body but deeper on the roasted grain color scale than a lot of these, with a fizzy popping tan head from the tap. it doesnt smell as roasty as it looks, but has some dark cocoa sort of low end depth to it in both aroma and flavor, a drier middle than many as well, and a very clean ferment, nothing really from the yeast, certainly not presenting itself as english or anything. some nice nuance to this as it warms, leather and birch and fresh brewed coffee, but its not overly complex, not jazzed up to be unique or fancy in any way, this is brown ale for drinking, and i like that about these guys. for it being so dark, the body remains fairly light, this is definitely a pint beer, moved along by swift carbonation too. overall a very tasty, complete, and frankly quite expert take on the style, better than the raspberry version they had on when i was there too, this needs nothing. maybe the best local brown ale in town...

On tap in Meridian.

Poured into the pint glass as a light brown with plenty of ruby highlights. Off-tan head is small and doesn’t lace well.

The nose meets with aromas of bread and chocolate malt...moderate sweetness, impressions of vanilla? Coffee too maybe? Not too roasty though.

The palate shifts slightly, bringing the same notes of bread malt and cocoa but also some flowery notes of...lavender? Surprising at first but it balances out, not sure if that’s an intended flavor or not?

Lighter body and easy drinking.

Overall, it’s a brown! Drinkable and enjoyable.

On tap at brewery. A very robust brown ale, 6.3% ABV. Color of dark ice tea, sticky lacing, sweet nutty aroma. Taste brings in more flavors, molasses, wood, nuts, maple syrup. Not a big fan of the style overall, but this ones real good.

Draft at the brewery... Pours a polished walnut with an only okay white head that dies pretty fast and leaves no real lacing... Nutty with big dry toast with plenty of CCC hoppiness... Firmly in American Brown territory as far as hops go, but I appreciate the nice malt complexity.. Decent body given the ABV, still goes down nicely. No real complaints.

3.75/4/4/4/4