Trail Buzz
Humble Forager Brewery

 

 

A chestnut bod with a lazy foam that generates a medium collar of light beige after being poured from a growler about 20 hours after filled. Nose and taste are similar, though the nose is considerably lighter. Also, hazelnut is a little more noted in the nose where the coffee comes through on the taste. The beer is a lightly nutty, mildy bitter brown ale at its heart, with the coffee playing into it to add just a little more depth of flavor - almost like some instant espresso can accentuate a chocolate dessert. There is a hint of ash mid-late on the taste, which I think is the coffee interacting with whatever bittering hops are involved.

my very first from this outfit, who has a reputation that precedes them a little bit. i love coffee beer, and i like to see it in beers that arent stouts and porters, love those too, but diversity is my muse with these, so cool to have a light and mild mannered brown ale at the core of this. its got light haze leading to a bit of dullness, but it holds a near inch of tan head on a mid brown body with lots of bubbles and looks pretty good overall, but it immediately smells less than very fresh, some light oxidation to the beer but also to the coffee part, hazelnut coffee apparently, more generic nuttiness than specifically flavored to me when i drink it, coffee obvious, light astringency, raisin and cigar nuance with it, some sweetness, chocolate malt, cohesive and to me kind of seems like a morning beer, even off peak i still fully get it. the flavor is autumnal to me, only a little sweet with maple and brown sugar character way back, coffee is nice, not overly roasted, more that just the low end, nice with the chocolate and even acorn and bran character the grain brings, wish it was fresher, some acid that might be a product of fade and a bit of an odd aftertaste with it, maybe that hazelnut element as a flavoring or something, not as an actual nut, but subtle enough that this is still pretty good, lingers imperfectly, cocoa, cola, dark rum, lots of savory here too, the coffee drives it but there is enough grain, good body, especially for its lower abv, need to track this down a little newer i think, not an elite beer at this point, but solid, and a fun introduction to this place, hope to have more from them soon, nice quality coffee here, love it not being so roasty, perfect for a brown ale base, and aftertaste aside, i dig this. nice afternoon sipper this time of year, but i could wake up to it too...