Looking for a new English Brown Ale

Your taste in conversation seems to match your taste in beer. I wasn't trying to insult you but rather to steer the thread in a more helpful direction given that the early recommendations were for beers that I suspect you'll find as or more off-putting than the Lagunitas-brewed version of Newcastle. You emphatically say that you don't enjoy hoppy beers. Best I can tell, old-school Newcastle had around 18 IBU, and the Lagunitas version around 25. Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale has about 31. Bell's Best Brown Ale probably has around 35. The beers I recommended have 13 and 16 IBU, respectively. It's hard to have an honest and productive conversation using euphemisms and bromides. As far as I know, there are zero widely available brown ales in the United States that are as thin in aroma, flavor, and body as old-school Newcastle, and under 25 IBU is a rarity in American craft beers brewed in traditionally English styles.

 

That’s an analogy we can all relate to.

Take a look at the date code printed on the bottle label before you buy it. Don’t buy it if it has an R. That’s a bottle from last year. Only buy bottles with an S. (This code is unique to Hofbrau... I’m assuming.) Those are from this year. Report back with your reactions even if you hate it. It’ll be a “cleaner” tasting beer. Please do the same for the Samuel Smith brown ale.

 

going off what @islay had to say about Newcastle, I've never drank it to my knowledge, and assuming it's as thin and as low bitterness as he claims I really think you might like some of the amber lager styles like dunkel. good luck @Kacyk2, hope you find your new favorite wife soon

 

Here in Michigan we have lots of brown ales, I think one you might like would be 1st Brown Ale from Atwater Brewing.

 

I drank a fair share of Newcastle Brown Ale before I really got into craft. It was probably a bit of a gateway beer for me, one that I started drinking after I grew tired of Bud Light and Coors.

My recommendation is Cigar City Maduro Brown Ale. I have found it quite enjoyable.

 

It has been a very long time since I have consumed Newcastle Brown Ale but maybe a New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale will get you in the 'ball park'?

I should caveat that it has also been a very long time since I drank a Fat Tire beer as well.

Best of luck on your quest!

Cheers!

 

IBU stands for international bitterness unit, it's a way of quantifying how bitter a beer will taste. It's not usually printed on packaged beer (although sometimes it is, usually on an ipa) but if you find yourself in a brewery tap room there's a good chance it will be listed along side the ABV. It's not the whole story on taste by any measure but it can be useful info, especially if you prefer an especially bitter or especially mild version of a certain style.

 

You don't casually use the word "bromide" in your every day conversations?

Come on man...

 

Lets us know what you thought about it!!

 

Shows how lazy I am.

I read the title as New England brown ale.

Quite happy I was wrong

Enjoy

 

But now that you mention it.

I would jokingly make a comment about it is only a matter of time that somebody brewed a 'NEBA' but in all likelihood some BA would post: But Brewery x in New England state y has already done this with their beer of Moo Brown Ale (or some such name).

Cheers!

 

It has already been done. A local brewery tried it. It wasn’t the best.

 

Maybe their next one will be better?

Cheers!

P.S. See, I was right in that someone would post that 'NEBA' has already been done. Did the brewery actually call the beer a "New England Brown Ale"?

 

I do like a hoppy brown ale,

Bells Best

Stone/Alchemist partnership on more brown than black was by far the best I have had.

Edit......its considered a black IPA not a brown ale

I do not like NEIPA but would try a NEBA

Enjoy

 

They called it a NEIBA. IIRC they did it as ‘protest’ to the Haze explosion. The name of the beer is Throwin’ Shade.

 

Smuttynose Old Brown Dog hasn't been mentioned yet. Sad times.

 

@Kacyk2 Not sure about its distribution range, but Thunder Hole Ale from Bar Harbor is a wonderful little brown, with hardly any hop character. Super round and nutty. For something a little richer, Harviestoun Old Engine Oil is absolutely phenomenal. More of a black ale, really, but it's to die for, and has no discernable hop profile. Or simply try a bunch of GA local brown ales, and you're bound to find a gem. Cheers!

 

Newcastle has gone through (at least) two recipe changes in the last few years in the US. In 2015 because of consumer pressure over health concerns they stopped using caramel coloring to achieve that color and started using toast malts which will get you that color but with a different flavor. Then in 2019 Lagunitas completely changed everything so it is definitely not anything like the original.

Use of caramel coloring was very traditional and common in English and Scottish brewing. I just homebrewed a 1950s recipe of a Scottish 80/- beer using caramel coloring (that I had to get from a London homebrew shop because you can’t get it here in the states) and at one point in the process I tasted it and it reminded me immediately of Newcastle the way I remember it from the 90s. So maybe try a Scottish beer like a Belhaven or McEwans? I think you’ll find that less hoppy more caramel malty flavor you are looking for.

 

Have you tried Yards Brawler? Not British (brewed in Philadelphia) nor a brown ale, but its a pretty tasty version of an English mild. Definitely more malt forward and less hoppy than most US ales, something like 12 IBUs.