Blown Out Brown
Bitter Root Brewing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poured from can into a pint glass

Appearance – The beer pours a dark brown color with a small fizzy tan colored head. The head fades relatively quickly leaving just a little bit of foamy lace on the sides of the glass.

Smell – The aroma is quite nice overall. It is quite heavy of sweeter sugary smells with lots of caramel and molasses as well as a good showing of brown sugar. Along with the sweeter smells comes aromas of a nice roasted malt and lots of milk chocolate along with a hint of nuttiness.

Taste – The Taste begins with a nice roasted malt taste with a good showing of caramel and brown sugar upfront. As the taste advances, some of the caramel and brown sugar transition to more of a slightly molasses like taste. Right from the start there is also a nice chocolate flavor. This chocolate increases to the middle of the flavor profile only to fade ever so slightly as the flavor moves forward further. With a little bit of nut and some herbal flavors coming at the very end of the taste, a very pleasing and darker, but still rather satisfyingly sweet, taste is left on the tongue.

Mouthfeel – The body of the brew is on the slightly thicker side for a brew of only 5.2 % abv. with a carbonation level that is on the slightly lower side. For the more robust dark flavors of the brew the thicker feel and moderate carbonation are very nice heavily accentuating the sweeter chocolate nicely.

Overall – This is a very delicious brown ale that has a great feel for the rich dark flavors all while being at a modest 5.2 % abv. Quite tasty.

Poured from a 12 ounce can into a shaker pint. A moderate pour results in a 3/4 inch frothy, off-white head that shrinks quickly, but does stick around for a little while. The beer is a fairly dark brown with perhaps a bit of murk.

Biscuity malts on the nose and palate. A load of butteriness and a little bit of astringency subtract a bit from the flavor. Despite the style, a little more of a hop character would be welcome- something to balance out all that biscuit. The mouthfeel is dense, oily, perhaps a little creamy. Rather bland overall and average, at best.

I'm not seeing too many brown ales on the shelves these days (I'm missing Sierra Nevada's Tumbler). Browns don't have to be this bland.

From notes.

12oz can that was a little bit dented and weathered, purchased at Huckleberry's in Spokane for $1.59. No freshness date.

Poured a cola-ish color that took on a reddish hue when held up to light. There was a half-inch of off-white foam for a head, but it quickly fell, leaving some "beer neglige" style lace on the sides of my glass.

The smell was of roasted malts with traces of some grassy hop aroma.

The flavor was of roasted malts, with a little bit of coffee and mollasses. As it warmed, there a mild, nutty taste became discernible. The swallow was surprisingly dry for the style.

Medium bodied, with a coating, prickly mouthfeel.

An decent brown ale. Not bad, but not terribly compelling, either.