Hazy Shade Of Winter
Bald Man Brewing

 

Pours a semi hazed chestnut color with a khaki head , Smell is malt chocolate baked bread and hazelnut. Taste follows nose with chocolate and malts . A smooth mouth feel with cocoa hazelnut subtle in the background.

On draft at Bald Man. Poured a dark brown color with a small, off-white head of fluffy foam. It left sudsy trails of lace on the glass. It smelled of roasted malt, chocolate, hazelnut and caramel. Nice hazelnut taste with chocolate and a roasted malt backbone.

 

rarely do i go into a new brewery for the first time and start with their brown ale, but for whatever reason, thats what i did here, and thats all this beer is, just a straight up brown ale, but with a little bit of hazelnut happening, and a real well made one. sometimes its doing the simple things well that makes a great first impression, not some mediocre barrel aged fruited saison or something. looks the part, with a nice inch of head on top of a clearish cocoa brown body with some nice luster. aroma here is the chocolate malt and a little sweetness along with it from the hazelnut, but not fake or overdone, not much hops or yeast in the nose, seems simple and traditional, but a little richer, really appealing. nice dry cocoa flavor in the nose, lots of good fresh chocolate malt here, awesome with the hazelnut, and with a bit of a caramel sweetness to it, soft honey maybe in there, and some bitter darker grains in low dose just for balance. still not much happening with hops or yeast here, but i for one dont miss them, the grain flavor is great here and with the hazelnut and chocolate back and forth, there is plenty going on. medium bodied but light enough to drink, not overly carbonated, and super smooth going down with less sugar remaining than anticipated. a better version of a whole lot of other brown ales that start out down the same path. this is quite good for what it is.