Red Brick A-Town Brown Ale
Atlanta Brewing Company

 

Look: Brown with a Brownish Red undertone, and this beer had a nice White 1/2 to 1 finger head, depending on how aggressive the pour, and A-town Brown had great lacing throughout the drink. Smell: This beer had a nutty aroma, with nice nice smells of roasted malts and caramel. Taste: A-Town Brown had flavors that, for the most part, mirrored its smell with flavors caramel, hints of chocolate, and a nutty flavor attached. Feel: Really smooth with very tamed carbonation. Overall, a pretty good beer.

 

 

 

 

 

Poured this into a Sammy A pint glass. The body has a deep rich glorious amber. This beer shimmers when held up to the light and the half inch head hangs on tight.
The nose picks up a smokey toasted caramel, raw coffee grounds, and wet boozy cookie dough.
The taste brings on all that the nose told you about, along with a nutty biscuit dipped in molasses flavor.
The mouthfeel is smooth with light carbonation--as it should.
Overall a fantastic example of a brown ale.

A-Town Brown Ale is a rebranding of Red Brick's Brown Ale, which as of 2013 has been shifted from year-round to fall seasonal status, renamed and repackaged with slightly less generic label artwork courtesy of local artist JERT. Brewed in the style of an American Brown Ale, this is the latest incarnation of the original pilot beer that put Red Brick on the map in 1993, with alcohol cut by a quarter percent.

Poured from a 12 oz. bottle to a pint glass. Served north of 50º Fahrenheit.

(Appearance) Pours a crisp, fizzy caramel cream head over a mildly hazy mahogany body with lots of active carbonation. Retention is below average, very soda-like overall. It's a notably lackluster appearance by any beer drinker's standards. 2.5

(Smell) Aromas of toasted caramel, toffee and a hint of coffee bean comes together for a subtle sweetness. Hop aroma is tame- bitterness is moderate, accented by the earthiness of the coffee and grain. Altogether it's nothing to write home about- a clean smelling brown ale with most of the expected suspect aromas in tow. I appreciate the reserved sweetness of this beer. Potency is medium. 3.5

(Taste) A-Town Brown's flavor stays noticeably light for a high drinkability amongst a style known for overly sweet, unbalanced and malt-favored beers. The sweetness of this brown keeps in-check with a hint of caramel sweetness met with a light grain husk and a pinch of clean bitter coffee grain. The beer finishes light, clean and simple with a mild, enjoyable dryness. While it's not "overly" light, some expecting a brown ale with more body and substance will almost certainly be disappointed, unless you were expecting a beer with balance and drinkability, where this beer most certainly meets the challenge. 3.5

(Mouthfeel) Texture is slick with a velvet smoothness, carbonation adds a pinch of light crispness. Body is light for American Brown Ales, light/medium overall. Alcohol presence is very low. Again, consumers may find the lightness of this beer disagreeable, but it does have decent balance on it's side nonetheless, and there are no off-characters noted in its flavor. 3.5

(Overall) While A-Town Brown doesn't come close to reinventing our expectations of how beastly an American Brown Ale could be, it manages a good balance and high drinkability, two commonly abused factors in the waning Brown Ale category. If you manage to have as difficult a time as I did locating this small-name Georgia Beer it may possibly fit the bill for a choice fall ale, especially at the incredibly reasonable budget Georgia prices, which notably undercut most local bigger-name beers. 3.5

Red Brick Brewing Company's
A-Town Brown Ale
3.45/5.00