Brown Ales (2025)

I had a good one on draught for the first time yesterday, A Monument City American Brown Ale.

 

@Resistance88 finally coming into this thread, thanks for starting it!
Homeplace is in the smaller Western NC town Burnsville. The facility is beautiful and geared for nighttime music and frivolity with plenty on indoor space. Brown Mule is a very nice English Brown, the toast/light roast and chocolate malts are the flavor driver. Hopping is light but balances. Very nice flavor.
Cheers!
Tom

 

Cross posting from the NBW thread.

For today's new beer i am trying an "imperial" English Brown Ale from Homeplace Beer Company in Burnsville, NC called Free From Kings, a collaboration with Hillman Beer out of Asheville and Old Fort, NC. Onto my review:

4.18/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Picked up a 16 oz single from the brewpub cooler on 6-4-25 for $4.60. No canning date; consumed 6-29-25. Cold stored since purchase.

Beer poured dark brown with a nice light brown head.

Nose is nice combination of toffee, light roast, and caramel.

Taste is really well done. The malt base starts with a light roast/heavy toasted malt that yields a good dose of toffee flavor. Getting some light chocolate in the post sip aspirations. Finishes with a toastyness that leaves no residual sweetness.

Mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with each sip being very soft and smooth.

Overall, this is another well done English Brown Ale from Homeplace!

Cheers!
Tom

 

Just spent 6 days in Orlando. Picked up a six pack of Cigar City Maduro to sip at the hotel with my wife after trying to keep up with three teenage boys through amusement parks. One of my favorite browns.

 

Boulevard Pecan Pie RBA Imperial Brown Ale, 13.5% ABV. Pours dark brown, with a ring of bubbles. Aroma is pecan, maple, burnt sugar, and rum. Taste is rum up front, then pecan and maple, brown sugar, quite sweet but not cloying, slightly bitter. Decent mouthfeel, overall excellent.

4.35/5 rDev +3.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

I didn't expect to like this, but it's really good. Love me some Rum BA dark beer.

 

Always have thought that was the best brown ale of all time! Drank my final cellared one a year or so ago — you’re right, it hadn’t lost a thing. Wish they’d bring it back.

 

Cross posting this from https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...ndreds-of-thousands-in-rent-and-taxes.681959/ …

Hoping this isn’t too far off-topic … came to the realization last night that this means of my two favorite Brown Ales that were regularly available here — Hazelnut Brown Ale (Rogue, English Brown) and Triple Digit Chickow! (Listermann, American Brown) — both have disappeared in the past three months with their respective brewery closures. A true Brown Drought?

Thanks to @Resistance88 and @AccipiterofBeer for suggesting Alesmith Nut Brown Ale and Brooklyn Brown, respectively — I’ve occasionally seen both of them around here and will be hunting them down!

 

Ditto on Avery Ellie’s Brown Ale.

 

Never yet the Alesmith Nut Brown — but soon! — and Ellie’s maybe a few years ago, and remember liking it pretty well — and soon again!

I’ve resolved to make an exhaustive study of both English and American Browns — essentially buying at least a single bottle/can of every one I can find, and then deciding which one(s) I want to settle down with!

I do wish, though, that Founders would re-brew Underground Mountain (for me) and Frangelic Mountain (for Mrs. mpruden). And ditto for Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron!

 

I’m especially eager to try the AleSmith — have long been a devotee of their Speedway Stout.

 

Angry Chair's Short Story.. good flavors, smooth mouthfeel:

 

Low demand or Uninspired brewers? Samuel Smith and CC Maduro is all I see in South Florida. This one was sent to me by @Ocalafox ..we see Angry Chair but mainly their flagship stuff. We don't even get Cigar City's Oatmeal Cookie variant. It's rough out here for Brown Ale drinkers :/