Best Brown Ale
Pyramid Breweries, Inc.

 

Appearance: Massive, off-white head, several inches in height, quite dense and persistent, crowns a slightly hazy amber brown body. Thick, dense and unbroken lacing coats the glass walls.

Aroma: Deep notes of caramel, brown sugar, bitter apple, plums, earth, and coffee dominate the aroma.

Taste: Begins with dark toasted malt, suffused with a wave of bitter apple. As the taste progresses, notes of plums present. Midway through the taste, a note of cold cold coffee dominates. late in the taste, green apple flavors appear. Finishes with a wave of sugar cookies and mild herbal hops.

Mouth feel: Very smooth and full, soft and pleasant.

Drinkability/notes: This beer offers a daunting complexity, more like one would expect from a Belgian style, than a humble Brown Ale. A really excellent example, let us hope it returns.

Presentation: Packaged in a short twelve-ounce brown glass bottle with a twist-off crown, served in a New Belgium Brewing chalice.

Clear, very dark copper with frothy tan head of medium retention. Aroma is sweet and nutty for the most part but hints at chocolate and roastiness. Taste reveals a strong roasted and caramel malt backbone, of course. Bordering on tart, lemony even. Distinct mentholated/tobacco and spicy flavors to it as well. Fairly strong — but not really bitter — herbal, leafy, nearly spicy hoppiness in the finish. Nice thickish brew, with medium amount of pleasant sudsy carbonation. Quite smooth with a good degree of astringency.

12 ounce bottle into pint glass, best before 1/20/2015. Pours slightly cloudy reddish brown color with a 2 finger dense and rocky light khaki head with great retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Nice dense soapy lacing clings down the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the head. Aromas of caramel, toast, toffee, brown sugar, brown bread, nuttiness, light chocolate, plum, apple, herbal, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Very nice aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/bready malt, earthy hops, and light-moderate fruity yeast notes; with good strength. Taste of caramel, toast, toffee, brown sugar, brown bread, light nuttiness, light chocolate, light apple/plum, herbal, and yeast toasted earthiness. Light-moderate earthy herbal bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of caramel, toast, toffee, brown sugar, brown bread, light nuttiness/chocolate, herbal, and yeast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Nice robustness and complexity of dark/bready malt, earthy hops, and light-moderate fruity yeast flavors; with a good malt/bitterness balance and some light earthy hop astringency lingering after the finish. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth and moderately creamy/bready mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is well hidden with zero warming present after the finish as expected of 4.8%. Overall this is a nice English brown ale. All around good robustness, balance, and complexity of dark/bready malt, earthy hops, and light-moderate fruity yeast flavors; and very smooth to drink. If it lacked the hop astringency it would have scored higher. A nicely enjoyable offering.

 

Poured from bottle into a pint glass

Appearance – The beer pours a light brown/deep amber color with a one finger head of tan colored foam. The head has a decent level of retention, fading over time to leave a light level of foamy lace on the sides of the glass.

Smell – The aroma of the brew is heaviest of a sweeter caramel smell mixed with some toffee and brown sugar smells. With these aromas are some lightly toasted malt smells and a bit of a nutty aroma. A hint of an earthy smell is there as well creating a rather pleasant smell overall.

Taste – The taste begins with toasted bready flavor mixed with a caramel and toffee sweetness. Upfront the taste is very smooth due to the moderate toastiness and sweet flavors. As the taste advances however, it bitters some, even though the sweetness remains constant, and even gets some notes of a light dark fruit (cherry and plum) more toward the middle of the taste. This increase in bitterness comes from a mix of added toast, as well as an arrival of a nuttiness and some earthy and herbal tastes. The resulting mix of flavors that is left at the end of the taste, ends up leaving a toasty and lightly bittered brown ale flavor to linger on the tongue.

Mouthfeel- The body of the beer is average for a brown ale, but a bit thicker for its 4.8 % abv. with a carbonation level that is on the average side. For the style, the slightly thicker body was actually very nice for the toasted and slightly nutty and herbal tastes of the brew.

Overall – A pretty decent brown overall with a nice blend of toasted and bittered flavors that has enough sweetness to balance it all out.

 

Note- this beer is apparently not retired, but is still available as part of a variety pack.

A moderate pour produces a big billowing frothy head of about 2 inches. This proves fairly sticky, and contrasts well with the deep brown color of the beer.

Subdued aroma, but detectable dark fruit, toffee and caramel notes come through in the flavor. Light floral hops are also discernable, with maybe a touch of citrus. Understated nutty notes suggest walnuts. This beer is medium bodied with light fruity notes and a rather mild bitterness lingering into the aftertaste.

This is a decent enough brown- easy to put down but nothing special. It could use more nuttiness and earthy bitterness. This was purchased as part of a seasonal variety pack that's probable worth buying if they mark it down a couple bucks, as this one was.

 

 

Appearance - Pours a dark but relatively clear ruddy brown color with a tan, finger width head. Fair retention results in a thin layer of surface suds and a decent ring around the edge of the glass. Streaky lacing with good stick.

Smell - Mild aroma. Light nuttiness, hints of malt sweetness and a leafy, earthy hop character.

Taste - Mild nutty and creamy flavor. Faint hints of roast and toffee. Lesser notes of earthy hop flavor hit near the back end. Balanced finish.

Mouthfeel - Light in body, almost too light, with a fair amount of carbonation. Smooth, easy drink with a semi-dry finish.

Overall - A decent brown; mild and drinkable. Missing that extra something to make it a desirable brew, but there's nothing off-putting about it.

 

 

 

 

 

The beer pours to a translucent mahogany color with the head average in size, frothy in its texture, and a light tan in color with the left over lace a nice sheet to cover the glass. Nose is dominated by a sweet malt aroma, crisp and fresh with a somewhat sweet and malt laden start, top is light to moderate in feel. Finish is sternly acidic, hops are pleasant enough, and the aftertaste dry and lingering, drinkable as beers go but nothing special.

Medium brown color, small head. Aroma is nutty and sweet. A lighter bodied Brown Ale. Toasted malts, mildly hopped, toffee-like taste. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and light and somewhat dry. Aftertaste is slightly bitter, with a toffee like maltyness.

Very tart middle with an unpleasant nutty/grain malt finish.