Baadshah Brown Ale
King Of Springs Brewery Ltd.

946ml, growler-esque bottle, from the liquor store in Didsbury that acts as this part-time brewery's off-sales location. I had no idea what this one's name meant, but apparently it is the Hindi (or Persian) translation of 'king' - wow, what a rural Albertan reference, eh?

This beer pours a clear (I gather), dark ruddy brown colour, with two fingers of puffy, rocky, and bubbly beige head, which leaves some crashing wavecrest lace around the glass as it slowly but surely abates.

It smells of bready and doughy caramel malt, a robust earthy nuttiness, subtle dark orchard fruity notes, ethereal wet ash, and plain leafy, weedy, and floral green hop bitters. The taste is semi-sweet, grainy and bready caramel malt, brown sugar syrup, a still muddled and bruised black fruitiness, some lessened generic bar-top nuts, and more gentle earthy, leafy, and musty hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly light on its typical frothy feet, the body a decent medium weight, and particularly smooth, with a small airy creaminess there from the get-go. It finishes off-dry, the complex malt and inherent nuttiness running the proverbial show.

Overall, this is the best of the lot, so far - a nicely rounded, and full-flavoured brown ale (north English, south English, who the hell cares), with a pleasant nuttiness aiding and abetting the base malt. Worth checking out, as I have no suggestions for improvement - small victories, I suppose!