Three Lions Brown Ale
Oliver Brewing Company

Nice dark hue and impressive head. Nose is faint with a biscuit note and some earthy hops and caramel as it warms. Taste is properly English with low carbonation and restrained, sensible balance. Flavor leans to the chocolate and caramel but has hints of herbal and medicinal hops. A funky aftertaste makes me think this would be better in a pint, in England.

Poured from the can into a nonic pint glass.

Big beaming copper red body, slightly dark almost brown, with a good foamy thick khaki colored cap of head, easily three fingers tall. Big retention and staying power as well.

Very nice simple aroma, but hints a little off bitter in a sort of Irish ale quality. Slight hint of nut, maybe a fruity ester kicking in. Slightly toasty and nutty as well in the malt department.

Palate hits a simple mark. Light caramel with a little bit of warm toasty bread feeling. Hints a little banana but some more hop forward action comes though with a simple pine to green like bitterness. Hints a little creamy yeast as well in the mix, particularly in the finish. Good aftertaste of creamy and leveled grass bitterness for balance.

A pretty solid English brown ale.

 

Reddish amber color, good clarity. Pours a good sized white head, very creamy and long lasting. On the pale side for a brown ale.

Big malt aroma with caramel sweetness and maybe a slight toastiness. Definitely smells sweet.

Flavor matches the aroma with a big slug of caramel malt sweetness up front. Subtle earthy hop flavors mid mouth, and a surprisingly bitter finish given how it starts.

Medium-full body, and medium carbonation. Not overly thick on the body, and the carbonation is enough to cut through it. A bit of warming.

A surprisingly easy to drink, stronger British style beer. The bitterness is on point to scrub the palate and prepare for the next malty onslaught.

Welcome to Round 6 of New Oliver, The Belz Are Ringing Beer Sunday (Week 710) brought to you by Peter Belz of Shangy's Distributing in Emmaus, Steve Jones of Oliver Brewing Co. in Baltimore, MD & The CANQuest (tm)! Today is going to be a great one for drinking & reviewing a horizontal of Oliver BC CANs.

From the CAN: "A Call to Arms"; "This bold English-style Brown Ale is full-bodied with a hint of toffee sweetness balanced by an assertive hop presence. Oliver Brewing Co. has been proudly brewing craft beer in Baltimore, MD since 1993."

The astute reader/observer/follower of my nonsense will remember that brewer Steve Jones is a British expat & as such, he has a propensity towards brewing English-style beers. This is just one example, but indicative of things to come.

First & foremost, this is an English Brown Ale & such is how I will be CANsidering it in my review. I began with a Crack! of the vent & quickly followed it with an inverted Glug in an attempt to alleviate my frustration! The Oliver BC website is filled with CANfusing & CANfounding misinformation. The head rushed up & began a pseudo-cascade that eventually formed over three fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, deep-tan/light-brown head with great retention that left a passel of sticky lacing once it finally decided to fall away. Color was Coppery-Brown (SRM = > 17, < 22) with NE-quality clarity. Nose was malty & sweet, reminiscent of brown bread. This is an English Brown Ale, dammit! Mouthfeel was medium to full, not quite creamy, but on the approach. I fully agree with "toffee" & I would add brown bread & a light mintiness as far as the taste in CANcerned. I disagree with "assertive hop presence" as that might push it into the American Brown Ale category & that would be an even worse fit than the current English Strong Ale. This was the kind of beer that I would drink the crap out of if it were available from a Cask. Finish was semi-sweet with a pronounced brown breadiness on the finish. Mmm.

 

Clear brown/ruby, tight off-white finger of foam. Nice lace
Aroma of toffee, bread crust, and a bit of chocolate.
Deep toffee flavor. Herbal and citrusy hoppiness. A lot more hoppy than most browns, both in flavor and bitterness. I like it, but not quite what you'd expect from a brown ale.
Medium bodied and clean mouthfeel.
Overall, too hoppy for the average brown ale drinker, but too malty and roasty if you were in the mood for an ipa.

This is labeled here on BA as an English Strong Ale - but the cans say they are a "Strong Brown Ale"
Poured into a 16 oz nonic.
Not much on the aroma. It smelled of malts and some wheat.
There wasn't much in the taste department for me. I was not getting any of the flavors described on the can. It was not hoppy as described, nor did I encounter any chocolate (and I'm a chocoholic). It was a smooth beer, but nothing to revisit for me.
*note* On the bottom of the can, it said "MAGIC NUMBER 12-22-16". I have no idea if this was the bottled on.. or best by date.

poured into a pint glass, the beer is a clear medium brown and produces a white head about a 1/4 inch high which dissipates fast. the smell hints sweet notes. tasting the beer, I can identify toffee, checked by hops. the finish is more on the malty side. overall a nice version of a brown ale. The blue can with the english lions is just stunning!!!