Newport Storm - Alyssa (Cyclone Series)
Newport Craft Brewing & Distilling Co.

 

 

Compared head to head with the only other imperial brown that I know of, Tommyknocker's Imperial Nut Brown.
Perfectly clear, nutty brown. Thick, off white head dissipates quikly, down to a weak misty coating. Decent retention, maintaining at least a collar throughout. Shines a brilliant, mahogany woodstain color through light. Much hoppier, though simpler aroma than the Tommyknocker. Grainy caramel malt. A hint of chocolate and english hops. Clean, especially considering the abv. Kinda smells like a doppelbock. Caramel malt right up front in the flavor. A bit of chocolate, dark fruit and nuttiness, meandering into a dryish, slightly hoppy finish. A bit doughy, grainy, and woody. Dryish finish. Medium bodied, relatively smooth mouthfeel, with moderate carbonation. Hides the alcohol very well.
A better appearance than the Tommyknocker version, although the flavor lacks some. Less sweet, although compared to the Tommyknocker, that's not saying much. Very much like a fruitier doppelbock. No problem finishing the bottle, but I don't know if I'd want to revisit this too often.

12oz. bottle: This poured out a clear, ruby tinted brown color. There was a small, off white head on it. The aroma is a bit weaker than I had expected, but still with pleasant notes of toffee and some other sweet maltiness. Some notes of coffee and roastiness to the tsate, with a decent medium malt body. Some alcohol taste. There is a hint of malt sweetness to the taste, with a slightly bitter aftertaste. Not too bad.

I opened this Cyclone series I got via trade in honor of our southern coast, as I saw what Katrina did to those states as she came on land towards the "Big Easy". Best of luck.
With all do respect, Alyssa poured a deep ruby brown. The head fizzed abit but formed a nice beige, milk chocolate colored head that maintained well. No lace was seen.
The aroma was malty, sweet molasses. The taste was sweet malt with hints of honey and caramel. The mouth feels the alcohol all the time and is left with a warm dry chocolate feel.
drinkability is ok, as long as your not expecting this brew to go a way its not going to. A complex little sweet brew, in a Big beer series.

The Newport Storm Alyssa pours from the bottle a deep crystal crimson brown color with a small eggshell bubbly head that quickly falls to a ring around the top of the brew. Aromas literally sting the nose as I inhale. Sweet caramel, aluminum foil, a hint of odd nut aroma and some buttery notes. Aroma is just not at all good on this one.

First sip brings a horrible metallic taste that permeates my entire mouth and leaves a lingering slighty stingy sensation. Underneath there are some caramel notes as well as some nuts but the weird metallic flavor overtakes everything else in the brew. Really, really muddled. Conclusion: drain pour.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied and slick with good carbonation..I really can't fault it all that much. Drinkability is nil, zero, zip, zilch. I was able to have four sips before it went down the drain...how this got out of the brewery I do not know. I'm hoping I possibly just got a bad bottle.

This lady pours out clear, chestnut brown with a very brief head of beige that fizzles out instantly and leaves no lace.

Aroma is sweet malt, caramel, brown sugar, fruit, light floral notes, and alcohol.

Flavor is very sweet and malty, with some faint fruit and nutty notes. There's a hint of chocolate in there too. Alcohol is hot. Completely unbalanced.

Body is just shy of medium with a slick, and somewhat gritty mouthfeel. I would have trouble drinking more than one.

Thanks to Dmeadows for the trade!

12oz brown bottle. No freshness date. Bottle cap says: “Holy Jesus, What are these goddamn beers?”

Pours a very deep ruby leathery stained colored beer and tops itself with a creamy, lacing tan head with some retention and stick.

Quite acrid in the nose, with rank prune and suggestions of blackstrap molasses and raw honey. Soft musty grain throughout.

Lighter than expected on the palate. Crisp. Carbonation creams things up and lifts the flavors. Fruity esters and a dominant solvent hit first – dirty alcohols. I get some old ketchup mixed in. What the? Dark ripe fruits lay within an almost sickly sugary sweetness with hints of caramel hidden beneath a touch of wet-paper oxidation. Toasted malts get overpowered by grain tannins, and these linger in the drying finish. The low hop content (33 IBU) is lost in the malt and alcohol. In fact it’s all malt and alcohol and a bit too cloying at that.

I often wonder if some brewers actually taste their beers before they release them, because not only does this taste like one of my first homebrew bombs, but I agree … “Holy Jesus, What are these goddamn beers?” That said, I dig what they’re truing to do this series and I’ll definitely keep on trying ‘em.

Dark like dense dark honey. Unimpressive head, no lace.

Lots of caramels in the smell. I also detect aluminum for some reason. It also has the high alcohol aroma. I cannot discern any hop.

The metalicness is still present on the first sip. The taste is mostly malty caramelized sugar--nearly burnt. Noteable alcohol oiliness, which describes the mouthfeel accurately as well. Carbonation seems low for richness.

Definitely not the style that I would typically seek out. It's also a beer that I would put into the barley wine category, although it would be a weak example.

Just picked up a 6-pack of this product on Cape Cod. I'm not a particularly big fan of brown ales but I'm definitely enjoying this one. That's probaby because it's certainly not like a traditional brown ale. Pours a nice ruby color with an attractive head which appears to be lasting. I'm not sure how to describe the taste other than it seems quite chewy and the alcohol is quite evident (although not overall negative). No unfavorable aftertaste despite the alcohol. As a fan of IPA's and Lagers, I've really never had anything quite like it but expect to make a repeat purchase if it's still available. I don't consider it to be a session beer but rather one to have as the final one when drinking a few in the evening.

Thanks to Hopasaurusrex for sharing this one.
Pours light mahogany with creamy beige head. Tinges of auburn in the curves of the glass.
Nose is unexpectadly estery, filled with bannana and red fruit.
Dry chocolate courting with roasted malts, mild caramel and a hint of cherries. Aromatics finish up with a light vineous nod.
Medium on the pallet, with a slight chew and mild bittering.
Bavarian character coming through with roasted cocoa and caramel coated bannanas.
Finishes fairly quickly, not too slick or sweet and no lingering hops or bitterness.
Seems more like a hybrid between an Imperial Dunkelweizen and Brown ale.

Alyssa pours a very smooth dark brown color with a thin off white head that quickly dissolves leaving no lace behind. The aroma is mainly molasses and cherry with some alcohol mixed in.

This beer is very smooth on the palate with a bit of a syrupy feel on the tongue. The flavor is filled with roasted malt, molases and cherries. It finishes with an alcohol taste leaving a toffee flavor behind.

The flavor reminds me of a World Wide Stout more than a brown ale.

I tried this at a Newport Storm tasting event at a store in Brookline. I had a small sample, so I can't judge appearance/head retention so well, but this was an intriguing brew nontheless so I'll give it a shot.

At first glance, it looks like a standard-issue brown ale - a little darker brown than a Newcastle, but not as dark as a Brooklyn Brown. As I sipped the beer, however, I was a bit overwhelmed with sweet, malty, almost floral notes, which is strange in a brown ale. As the flavors disapated across my tastebuds, it faded into that familar dry, roasty brown ale flavor. An interesting effect, but probably not something I'd drink that much of.

Since I only had a small pour, it'd be hard for me to register the effect on the beer's high alcohol content on its drinkability. But I don't get the sense that it's meant to be a session brew. I think there are other styles that lend themselves more to "doubling" than brown ales, but I think it's great that people are trying and experimenting like this. The brewery rep mentioned that this is just the first in a long-running series of Cylcone-themed "big" beers, so I expect them to hit their stride with their next few releases.

Thanks to ppoitras

This brew pours a deep brown and ruby color with a small head that falls to a light coating over the top. The nose is nice, with some sweet cherry, brown sugar and a puff of alcohol. I like it, but not necessarily what I look for in a brown. The flavor is better than the nose. I get some nice roasted malts over a sweet brown sugar base and a slight alcohol. There is a hint of a metallic and slightly bitter aftertaste as well. The feel is thick, with a moderate carbonation. I get a very warming feel in my stomach from this brew. Drinkability is hurt by the alcohol that is in the nose and some of the aftertaste flavors I get from this. Not bad at all though.

Pours a dark brown color with a small head that falls fast and leaves very little lacing on the glass. The aroma has a hint of roasted malts, bit of chocolate, but smells a lot more alcoholic than a brown should. Not bad though. Slightly sweet and quite malty. The flavor has a nutty character with some biscuit malt and possibly some aromatic. Good malty flavor. Very little hop here. It is creamy in the mouthfeel, but somehow seems a bit thin because of the high level of alcohol. Quite tasty with moderate drinkability, but it seems a bit big for the style.

Appearance: Brown with tan head of medium thickness that dissipated to a ring.

Smell: Very bready and sweet aroma. Big alcohol aroma also comes through - too much though.

Taste: Strong bitterness and malt sweetness up front. Very big alcohol taste - too big. Sweet and slightly metallic finish. Unbalanced. Tastes like just alcohol and malt. In a blindfold test, I would probably not recognize this as a brown ale.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied.

Drinkability: Too much alcohol flavor makes this beer less drinkable.

An "extreme brown ale" - certainly a contradiction in terms, since brown ales are usually the ones that sit in the back of the class and never raise their hand. Poured a somewhat turbid dark brown. Aroma immediately called to mind a Belgian style, with some fruity, funky notes. First sip confirmed the impression of a Belgian dubbel - yeasty orchard fruit flavors - muted pear and apple, with a touch of spicy yeast funk, overlayed on a sweet, caramel apple malt. The bottle proudly touts the 7.9% abv, and, while the alcohol does show up toward the end, with a touch of fusels, it does not clobber you over the head, and the beer was surprisingly drinkable. As a mutant brown ale, this beer is all wrong, but throw out the brewer's designation of the beer, and take it as a quasi-Belgian style, and I thougth this beer rather odd, but good.

Chestnut colored with an oatmeal colored head that looks thick, but settles pretty quickly. Aroma is strong, coming out as soon as the cap is popped. It's a little sweet, strong smells of caramel and toffee, roasted malts, some fruit and a hint of the ABV lying beneath. Mouthfeel is sorta slick and oily, finishing with a little carbonation feel, but not much. Flavor is initially roasted malt, with hints of sweet cocoa and coffee, almost cloying, and then an odd or off flavor of something I can't detect, or maybe the yeast is just coming through too strong for my tastes. Seems to finish with some faint hops, a metallic taste lingers, morphing into a burnt taste, morphing into just a really bad aftertaste.

Clear, dark crimson color, decent off-brown head.
Aroma is rich and malty, molasses and carob calling out, nuts and maple.
Smooth entrance on the palate, flavor delivered lightly, politely...dark delights here, same as detected in the nose, and all runs easily off the palate.
Strength is felt, but is never bothersome.
Very easy drinkability, despite the higher than average alcohol...medium body, soft, malty finish.
Nice.

looking at other reviews, I'm puzzled...it's not that bad, not this bottle, anyway...wait, what's happening to my head?...whoaaa....

Mahogany with a very creamy light beige head that stays up and laces as the beer goes down. Aroma is weak, but interesting. Molasses, toasted grain, toffee, and cigarettes. Flavor immediately strikes me as more of an "American Strong Dark" as opposed to any relation to a brown ale. Nice raisins and a bit of coffee with the alcohol not hidden at all. The malt would be great here if it had something to balance its taste - more IBUs, or spiciness, or phenols. The sweetness grows tiring half-way through the bottle, even though I tend to like sweet beers. Right after being poured the carbonation and alcohol make the thin feel come across fine, but as the beer sits it loses some of its life. Kind of a skanky, subpar finish to this decreases its drinkability. Again, I am thinking that some more IBUs would have helped here. A decent beer that is unique, but not something I would be likely to get again.