Brown ales?

Upslope Brown Ale is still my fave, after many brown moments (cue jokes in 3, 2, 1....).

 

Cabin Fever is OK. I find it hard to get worked up one way or another over it. It's decent, but very "middle of the road" for me. If you can get a single, it's worth trying, but I'd definitely choose Bell's, Samuel Smith, Dark Horse, Bear Republic, and Surly over it.

 

A solid standby is Moose Drool. Very drinkable.

 

4 Hands out of St. Louis has 6 packs of cans of their Cast Iron Oatmeal Brown that's very solid.

 

Brooklyn
Kane Drift Line (draught only from New Jersey)

 

Brown Note from Against the Grain

 

Brooklyn Brown Ale

 

Moose Drool is a different beast if you can find it on draft anywhere.

Also- Voodoo Wynona's Big Brown Ale is great because its more imperial/double by nature without getting too hoppy a la DFH India Brown Ale.

Sammy Smith's Nut Brown is a keeper too.

 

I like my brown ales more sessionable.

Long Trail's Harvest is a nice, seasonal, sessionable English brown at 4.4% abv.

 

Bell's is great. It's what a brown should be. I'm hoping to get my hands on Pretty Things St. Botolphs Town. Sweetwater Sweet Georgia Brown was a good one as well as Dog Fish India Brown. Their Palo Santo Marron is excellent but its an imperial stout, not a brown. Old Brown Dog by Smuttynose is a great one.

 

Load up on Bells Best Brown while you can still find it, the season for it ended at the end of October. Another favorite of mine is Lagunitas Censored. Bells Amber is another great one. Goose Island Autumn Ale is pretty good too, a nice malty profile with a discernible hop presence. DFH Indian Brown Ale is also a noteworthy contender if you want a discernible hop presence in your brown ale.

 

Against the Grain's is nice and I appreciate that they weren't trying to reinvent anything with it. I like Old Brown Dog too. I also don't care for Maduro. I find it to be way overdone. One could say the same about Durty (in a different way), but I surprisingly thought Durty was great... as a brown that resembles today's big IPAs.

 

Not sure of the availability of this one in the Midwest but try to get your hands on some Indian Brown Ale by Dogfish Head. By far my favorite Brown Ale

 

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron. 12% ABV Imperial Brown Ale. http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/64/33832/

 

Wow! And in alpha order too! Very much as if the poster had checked out this list.

Dark Horse Boffo Brown is a good one, as is Smuttynose Old Brown Dog. For an after-dinner snifter brown, look around for Really Old Brown Dog.

 

Have you tried the New Belgium collaboration beer with Ben and Jerry's yet? I was expecting a mess of a dessert beer (because of the chocolate and caramel) but it's actually just a really well-made brown ale with a subtle sweetness throughout. Any chocolate notes I got from the beer were intermittent at best. It's just a solid brown. I'm glad I picked up a sixer.

 

Are there any qualities that make brown ales unique? I've only tried the Rogue nut brown ale and wasn't impressed.

 

Against the Grain - Brown Note (if you can get past the label!)