Colonial Pub Pints Brown Ale
Cold Spring Brewing Co.

Light brown with a white foam head that started out pretty thick and then settled. Light malt hints in the nose. Smooth and malty from attack to the finish. Pleasant taste, but not a real memorable or distinct beer.

This was in my travel journal and had I not written it down I might have forgotten about it until I saw a similar can.

Stopped at the brewery in Cold Spring today for some information on the "nitrogen" feature of this product. As I suspected, nitrogen is combined with CO2 during carbonation. When the can is opened and pressure released, the nitrogen comes out of solution very quickly, in much smaller bubbles than CO2. The nitrogen gives the thicker head and more creamy mouth feel, but the CO2 gives the long lasting carbonation.
As far as Gluek products, which this is one of. What can I say? There is so much that can be done with this brand. So, why not start now?

UPDATE!!!!
I think that if people would just follow the suggestion on the can that this beer be cooled to between 40 and 42F they would find it a lot better. The head is wonderful, long lasting, and when it is almost gone there is a nice lace on the inside of a tall glass. I tried this beer before and did not care for it, but the idea of a nitro beer brought me back for another try. This time I did not CHILL THE CRAP out of it, and my earlier thoughts were wrong. This is pretty good stuff!!

A - Poured out a cloudy, burgundy color with a creamy, foamy, off-white, two-finger head. It left minimal lace.

S - It smelled nutty and of toffee and grasses.

T - It tasted of nuts and toffee. There was a mild caramel malt taste, too.

M - It was smooth and soft. A light-bodied beer.

D - This is very easy drinking. Nothing fabulous in terms of flavor but sessionable and inexpensive.

Thanks to chonyr for bring this can north.

A nice looking brew, somewhat ruddy for a brown with its reddish tinge. Decent one finger pale tan head fades to leave a thin collar. Not much CO2 in this one, after the initial rush this is quite mildly carbonated.

Nice toffee aroma present, works nicely with some fig like fruit aroma. Just a hint of leafiness present from the hops. Decent nose on this brew.

Decent enough nutty and toffee flavour as well here, some surprising banana flavours come through fairly pronounced as well. The malts are pretty tasty, but could be better. Im suspicious that some extract or possibly old malts have found their way in here. Decent leafiness at the finish from the old world hops.

Almost medium bodied, finely carbonated, smooth and somewhat creamy feeling ale. Favours the malts over the hops, which is fitting with what the style suggests. A mild astringency appears near the middle and lingers well into the finish.

This is a decent enough brown ale. Pulls no punches and delivers pretty much what it claims to provide from the writing on the can. Its going down quite nicely on this warm summer afternoon, and as such i feel that one could session this brew. Recommended to fans of the style, as well as those interested in trying various darker brews.

Dark reddish orange, which is the typical hue for most brown ales. Despite an increasingly high-altitude pour, the beige colored crown was barely two fingers to start and is down to one finger as I type. The foam is close to featureless and is leaving almost no lace.

Other than being underpowered and mildly metallic (which fades quickly), the aroma isn't bad. It isn't good either. Well-toasted grain with an understated nuttiness is the sum total of what reaches my nose. This stuff has a chance to be the best of the three Colonial Pub Pints ales.

Keeping in mind that *best* is strictly a relative term, it is. That's largely because it comes the closest to abiding by the style guidelines and isn't as flat-out nasty as Hefeweizen and Pale Ale. Brown Ale isn't anything to get exited over, but at least it's passably drinkable.

Heavily toasted malt, cocoa powder and nuts lead the way. Beyond that... there isn't much. A little more sweetness would be nice, as would less sourness. This is nothing more and nothing less than a simple, slightly below-average brown ale. Let's add forgettable to that list as well.

As much as Gluek (who tries to camouflage their involvement by calling themselves Colonial Brewing Company) would like us to believe that the mouthfeel is creamy ('Rich & Creamy' to be exact), it isn't. It's much closer to light than medium and has harsh carbonation.

Even though Colonial Pub Pints Brown Ale is one of the best Gluek beers that I have ever had, that isn't saying a whole lot. Simply put, this one isn't worth your time or your money. Not even close.

I use this site just to check how others rate beer after I've already made up my mind. I was shocked. This is a delicious beer. I drank it first side-by-side with Wolovers (sp?) Organic Brown Ale, and Colonial Pub Pints clearly had a better taste. I won't pretend to be an expert judge, but for others with a palate like mine, you will enjoy this beer.

Wow I didn't know good beer could come out of a can!! I really enjoyed this beer!! It is very creamy and smooth goes right down. The taste clearly has caramel with a hint of toffee.This is my first brown ale and if they are all like this I found my new favorite beer style.Kudos to Colonial brewery!!

16oz can

Colonial Pub Pints Brown Ale was orange-brown in color and a little hazy. It had a medium sized, off-white head that didn't last, with just a few spots of lace. The aroma was sweet, malty, and a touch fruity. The taste a little sweet and malty with an odd twang and dry finish. It was medium-light in body with plenty of carbonation. Drinkability was below average. This was a below average brown ale.

I'm not a big brown ale fan, but I'm surprised to see this beer rated as it is here as I thought it was surprisingly good. Perhaps my expectation was just too low based on the fact that this beer comes in a can, was cheap, and because I'd never heard of it before. Still, I found it be an enjoyable but no-frills brown ale. And I'm not a huge brown ale fan.

The beer pours a hazy brown with less than expected head formation. Aroma was somewhat toffee-ish, and flavor was sweetly malty but not over-the-top for my somewhat limited malty sweetness tolerance, which I appreciated. Mouthfeel was a bit watery, but not bad. All-in-all, I rather enjoyed it.

I bought this beer after seeing it on the "just in" shelf at Three Cellars liquor in Franklin, WI.

Carefully poured from the bottom (yes, I collect cans) this forms a foamy, creamy medium-tan head of about two fingers. It settles in a couple of minutes, and as it does so it begins to resemble the cream (crema) atop a freshly poured espresso, but that's where this comparison ends (or is it?) Average lacing. The ale itself is a very clear golden-brown in color, along with some chill haze. Carbonation is more than ample. Nose is quite the bag of tricks: tangy-sweet and lightly metallic, with fusel elements. Evidence of a blend of pale and dark (chocolate) malts, along with a family-sized helping of diacetyl rounds out the nose (did I mention "hints of undisclosed solvent"?) Smoooth (so smooth that it deserves an extra o!), creamy, and tangy-sweet on the first sip, almost feels like it was gravity poured from a cask. Co-mingled gas (Nitro-CO2) is evident, neat trick in that there is no widget. There's a lingering sour-tanginess and indistinct taste of cereal grains. Not-quite medium bodied, and seems a bit on the watery side even though I know it isn't exactly watery. Creamy-sweet indistinct malt profile coats the tongue in an almost unpleasantly slick manner. Rather good drinkability despite all of that creamy-slickness. Diacetyl is not as awful as the nose had led me to believe, nor is the metallic tang from the nose, somehow it helps to cut the sweetness. Almost no bitterness. Apart from the indistinct cereal grains throughout, there's an indistinct fruitiness at play here, and if I were to be generous I'd say light apple, green grape skins, very light citrus (lemon rind), and ripening plum, all topped off with light caramel. Feeling even more generous I'd throw in Hazelnut oil. Overall, not a terrible beer (and my generous rating reflects this), but while it's on the right track it does miss the mark. The style doesn't seem to lend itself so readily to the nitro treatment, and on the other hand, perhaps Gluek could dose this particular recipe with a bit more hop oil and a bit of coffee extract and call it a coffee-porter? I'm not being facetious, that suggestion might help this brew become something truly pleasant. And besides, stranger things have happened up there in Cold Spring (have you ever heard of Quake Chocolate Cream Ale?) The Cold Spring facility (under whichever of the uncountable names associated with it) has an impressive capability, and is the largest non-craft brewer in Minnesota in terms of volume, but they keep churning out near misses and half-assed attempts at style, geared toward novelty can collectors, the readily fooled, and even the several thousand grinning optimists that like just about anything that is grouped in with the Specialty and Craft beer market segments. Someday maybe they'll actually get it right and truly nail a style that craft beer-junkies can get along with, but all things considered the Colonial Pub Pints series is very far from the mark (and yes I'm including the ludicrous copy on the packaging. Just how many generations have nitro Hefe Weissens been around for?)
Served chilled in a shaker pint.
Purchased as a single at Paradise Liquor, Plymouth, MN.

Pours a dark brown, that I think is clear, with a cream-colored medium-sized head.

The aroma starts out nutty, very malty and caramel. Eventually it disappates and all I can smell is beer.

Flavor is nutty, creamy, and quite malty. It has a weird vegetable sweetness that sometimes throws the balance out of control.

Mouthfeel is light and extremely creamy, sometimes foamy. When it's not being foamy, it's very nice and works with the flavor well. I think the only way to keep the foam under control is to drink it very slowly.

Overall, drinkability is nice. A nice mellow flavor that slides down smooth (if not a bit too foamy). If they toned down the sweetness and foam, it could be a winner. Not too bad for a random 4-pak can I found.

Pour: 16oz pub can to imperial pint glass. A ruby red beer with lots of big bubbles streaming throughout capped by a one inch light tan head. Takes the head about two minutes before it's receded to a nice thin cap over the entire surface and a thicker halo around the edges. Looks tasty, but not at all like a brown ale.

Nose: Very aromatic upon popping the can open with a strong fruity scent of cherries, caramel, and sweet liqueur. After the pour is completed the complexity of the aroma has depleted to a light malt character touched with brown sugar and toffee.

Mouth: Enters tart like cranberries and has some cardboard flavor to it. Further along it's actually quite vegetal, especially upon exhaling through the nose. A tart aftertaste with lingering flavors of vegetables and yeast. Mouthfeel is creamy yet sparkling.

Note: Why, oh why, must they use their deceiving language on the can that implies that it's nitro?? This is NOT a nitro can, just labeled that way.

It says rich and creamy draught style on the can but there is no Nitro inside, simply a can of beer. Poured into a tulip it forms a thin off white head that falls to a small island with sliding lace. Glowing amber body.

My first thought was damn this is similar in so many ways to the pale I just had from Gluek except this has a touch of nuts in the malt profile and a bit more on the toasty side. So subtle in every way that it is boring. Underlying fruitiness adds some depth and character.

Notes: Much better than the pale as this one kept me interested from time to time but still a sub par offering.

Pub can with some kind of nitro system. Clear brownish amber, big creamy head of almost an inch. Simple spots for lace. Kind of a sourish aroma, some elements of white children's paste. Body is very light, carbonation about medium. Starts out with a slightly unpleasant astringency that is suggested in the aroma, is somewhat vindicated by a caramel impression at the back half of the profile. Through all of this is a watery sense without even the silkiness that most nitro cans can generate. Gets lemony and more lackluster as the glass goes on. Average drinkability, weird taste, and poor mouthfeel. Thanks to Matt at Thomas Liquors for the free promotional can.

Appearance: Reddish maroon colored body, big white head that fades fast, leasing just a little lace.

Smell: Roasted malts are there, but this beer has the same metallic smell that the hefeweizen did. Is there something in the water in Cold Spring?

Taste: Sour and metallic up front, initially really displeasing, lets up to a slightly chocolatey and finishes up just as bad as it started, many off flavors. Not good.

Drinkability: I can appreciate what Gluek is trying to do, but they really have a hard time getting a beer right.