Zola Chai Brown
Ironclad Brewery

 

well they certainly werent shy with the chai here, this is really spiced pretty heavily, and i think the brown ale is not quite robust enough for this level of chai. i like the aroma, i get all the spices together, cardamom, clove, nutmeg, maybe cinnamon too, even chili pepper, there is a lot going on, and it smells like a good cup of chai, less beer elements in the aroma. thats true of the flavor too, and while i really like the chai flavor, i think its dosed a bit strong for this base beer, which seems light and thin and sort of boring and weak for all this flavor. it might work better in an imperial brown, or even in a porter where there is just a bit more grain depth and body to stand up to the chai spice. that said, if you really like chai, i could see this being a huge hit, the chai flavor is layered and good, and the beer itself is light enough to drink a lot of. for me though, its over flavored and lacking balance. this is my first beer from ironclad, ambitious but not all the way perfected in my opinion...