Main Street Brown Ale
Harbor City Brewing Company

Main Street Brown AleMain Street Brown Ale
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From:
Harbor City Brewing Company
 
Wisconsin, United States
Style:
English Brown Ale
ABV:
Not listed
Score:
82
Avg:
3.41 | pDev: 9.97%
Reviews:
14
Ratings:
14
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Jul 02, 2008
Added:
Jan 02, 2003
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
No description / notes.
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Ratings by OldFrothingSlosh:
Photo of OldFrothingSlosh
Reviewed by OldFrothingSlosh from Pennsylvania

3.45/5  rDev +1.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
Poured a dark brown in color (DUH!) with a small layer of off-white head. Sparse lacing. Aromas are like a Milky Way bar. Lots of chocolate and caramel. Flavor picks up the caramel and adds some buttery notes to it. Scant bittering by the hops. Flavors end with a rising bitter note. On the thin side, but a good session beer.
Aug 01, 2004
More User Ratings:
Photo of keoki182
Reviewed by keoki182 from Wisconsin

3.46/5  rDev +1.5%
look: 2 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Main Street Brown is the 2nd brown I ever had next to Newcastle, and they are not very similar. This one poured a red/brown, translucent color with little tan head. Smelled like roasted malts, tasted like roasted malts. Thin, watery mouthfeel, but not as carbonated as Newcastle. A good session ale.
Jul 02, 2008
Photo of dirtylou
Reviewed by dirtylou from Oklahoma

3.45/5  rDev +1.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
12oz single, left in my fridge by blackie, probably from rileys or woodmans

appearance: pours into ND pint glass...dark amber-mahogany, rather clear, creamy beige head with average lacing

smell: cola esque, light roasted nut, very light hop sweetness

taste: slightly woody, flat cola, lightly roasted nut, cardboard, very mild coffee...its a beer, thats for sure, whats next?

mouthfeel: light, watery

drinkability: fine
Feb 02, 2007
Photo of BuckeyeNation
Reviewed by BuckeyeNation from Iowa

3.42/5  rDev +0.3%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
Translucent burnt orange with a rusty red tint. Like most brown ales, Main Street Brown isn't really brown at all. The cap is on the small side and is pretty nondescript. It's ecruish in color and is too soft and too unsticky to stick. A slim lip of lace extends above the surface of the deflating head, but that's about it. Nuttin' special.

Speaking of nuts, I like my brown ales to be nutty and Harbor City has obliged; at least when it comes to the nose. It's earthy brown malty, pretty decently roasted (given the style), faintly cocoa-like and smells of oven-toasted pecans. That sounds better than it actually smells, but it's a better than average aroma for sure.

The flavor follows the nose exactly, both in terms of character and in terms of quality. I could simply repeat my description of the nose, but won't. The earthiness is under control on the palate and doesn't permeate every mouthful like some brown ales I could name. There are enough chocolate and cocoa-related notes to keep the beer well within my preferred style profile.

It isn't especially sweet and it isn't especially bitter; although bitter wins on the finish as it so often does. Even though I can't taste the hops enough to take a stab at identifying them, I'm guessing that they were grown in Jolly Old England. This is a decently well-constructed beer that doesn't do any one thing well enough to grab me by the taste buds and make me pay attention.

There's nothing all that remarkable about the body/mouthful, in either direction. Personally, I think that brown ales should at least be medium in the mouth. If they manage even a slight degree of chewiness, so much the better. Too often though, I'm disappointed. I'm not exactly disappointed here, but my 'mouth interest meter' hasn't budged.

I've now had two of Harbor City Brewing Company's six beers and am sorry to say that they could use a little work. Main Street Brown isn't the most exciting name in the world and the beer itself lacks pizzazz as well. If I lived in the Badger State, I'd gravitate toward the better known breweries on those few occasions when I find myself in desperate need of a brown ale.
Jun 19, 2006
Photo of Golden2wenty1
Reviewed by Golden2wenty1 from Wisconsin

3.49/5  rDev +2.3%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3
Picked up a single from Riley's here in Madison. Spending the ngiht trying some different browns. Was informed by my friend battlekow that this one tasted like butterscotch which peaked my interest. It was a pretty accurate assessment. Pours a rusty amber/red with a nice tan head that dies quickly. Smell is straight up butterscotch....very buttery and sweet. Interesting...Taste is, well, butterscotch - sweet to the point of almost being a little bitter. Mouthfeel is good for a brown. Don't know if I could drink too many of them due to the butteriness, but it was an intersting take on an english brown.
Jul 08, 2005
Photo of battlekow
Reviewed by battlekow from Wisconsin

3.73/5  rDev +9.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
This beer looks, smells, and tastes like a Werther's Original candy. It's a light, cloudy brown with a faint buttery smell. The dominant flavor here is butterscotch, which is unique in my experience, so points there; in addition, it tastes pretty damn good.. The flavor is much more apparent after it's warmed a bit. Coats the mouth with a buttery glaze. This seriously tastes like butterscotch candy, so if you're a fan, pick up a bottle and indulge yourself.
Jun 29, 2005
Photo of Skidz
Reviewed by Skidz from Wisconsin

3.55/5  rDev +4.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
Pours out brown, dead brown, and sits a chocolate raspberry in the glass with a small off white head that fades to the sides.

Aroma is nice and nutty with caramle and malty sweetness. Light hops mingle in the background

Taste starts out light, sweet and malty with some nuttiness. Bitterness picks up the pace and moves into some caramel flavors with light fruity esters. Finish is bitter with lingering nuttiness.

Clean in crisp in the mouth with very fluid carbonation and a medium body. Easy drinker, a no problem 6-pack,...well, if unless you want "wow."
Nov 17, 2004
Photo of TPoling
Reviewed by TPoling from Texas

3.35/5  rDev -1.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Main Street Brown Ale poured with a deep head that lasted but a short while. In fact, it exploded out of the bottle. There was a soapy smell that mingled with a roasty malt. The good and the bad carried though in the tast with some caramel malt, but with soapiness in the backgroud.
Aug 31, 2004
Photo of lampkins
Reviewed by lampkins from Wisconsin

4.12/5  rDev +20.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Ahhh, Main Street Brown Ale, Harbor City's interpretation of a Brown Ale is head and shoulders above the imports that I used to drink prior to discovering this brew.

The pours a dark brown typical of most browns and the smell is a malty slightly hoppy in nature. Carbination is just right. Little or no head which is typical of the style.

Taste of the beer is smooth and gets better when it warms a bit (30 minutes or so). While I'll admit that the Raspberry Brown Ale, from Harbor City, is better this is a great substitute.
May 30, 2004
Photo of beerguy101
Reviewed by beerguy101 from California

3.22/5  rDev -5.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
Medium brown color. Large foamy white head. Aroma is nutty, malty and sweet. A medium bodied brown ale. Malts are nutty and sweet. Hops are grapefruity. Nicely balanced. A touch hoppy for a brown ale, but it gets maltyier and less hoppy as it warmed. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter
Nov 30, 2003
Photo of marc77
Reviewed by marc77 from California

3.5/5  rDev +2.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Crystal clear ruddy chestnut hue. Thin, but persistent light beige head yields sparse lace. Notes of underbaked biscuit and butter dominate the aroma, with hints of bitter baker's chocolate and roasted grain secondary. Trace herbal hop twang. Quite pleasant aromawise. Flavorwise, this brew barely resembles its nose. Dark toffee sweetness coats the palate initially, but is quickly overrun by surprisingly assertive, slightly citrus pith like hop bitterness. Butterscotch surfaces after a deliberation, assuages the hop bite, and allows more stately notes of burnt biscuit and roasted almond to arise. Unfortunately a slight, but lingering tannic bitterness resides as an undertone and precludes optimal drinkabilty. Softly dextrinous and passably smooth in mouthfeel, but a touch watery. But aren't most brown ales? Finishes with fleeting hints of dark bread and butter, but grain tannins linger. Despite the tannic bite, I rather enjoyed this brew. The diacetyl works well. It's a simple brown ale with respectable character. Tasty.
Nov 01, 2003
Photo of Bighuge
Reviewed by Bighuge from Minnesota

2.73/5  rDev -19.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5
This beer is nearly clear. Scarlet red in color. And has a thin fillm of tan color. Hugely sweet aroma of butterscotch, caramel candy and chocolate syrup. The taste seems very awkward for a brown. It's a little too sweet with the buttery caramel flavor. And then, a bit of an off bitterness, to me anyway, comes in to play. Mouthfeel is slick and slightly carbonated. Body is a bit better than medium. All in all, this is not a beer I'd recommend.

Thanks anyway for the sample cokes.
Feb 12, 2003
Photo of brakspear
Reviewed by brakspear from Wisconsin

2.73/5  rDev -19.9%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5
This beer pours walnut brown with a slight beige head that drops back to a collar almost immediately, with minimal lacing afterwards.

The aroma is very slight as well, I detected an almost medicinal tang to it above very minor roasted malt notes.

The taste is a blend of roasted malts, but very weak, and not very flavorfull, hop bite is evident in the finish.

The body also seems weak for the style. Overall this is a beer that I would pass on in the future.
Jan 11, 2003
Photo of cokes
Reviewed by cokes from Wisconsin

3.55/5  rDev +4.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 4
Brown-amber bodied with a thin beige head.
Nose full of toasted malts, with notes of rye bread and chocolate.
Taste is all about gingerbread. Perhaps drizzled with chocolate sauce and served with a cup of mildly roasted mocha. A little grainy in the middle, then the hops enter and it finishes up quite herbal and similar to green tea. The Hops are relatively assertive here.
While more than a bit on the watery side, this is session stuff all the way, and not altogether bad at that.
A decent, simple brown.
Jan 02, 2003
Main Street Brown Ale from Harbor City Brewing Company
Beer rating: 82 out of 100 with 14 ratings