Tag: brown ale

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Barrel Day – Bravissimo

Clapping hands loudly for the Double Decker new release from Firestone Walker

“Bravissimo lands as a revved-up edition of our signature barrel-aged Bravo brown ale. After a year of maturation in bourbon barrels at our Paso Robles brewery, this small-batch barley wine was blended back into a lot of traditional barrel-aged Bravo. The final blend was 70 percent traditional Bravo and 30 percent high-gravity Bravo. The result was a beautiful barrel character permeating the finished beer, with Bravo’s signature maple sap and chocolate flavors reaching another level.”

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Divine

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My favorite and (I think) lucky number is 9. So when I saw the label for the latest anniversary beer from Double Mountain Brewery of Hood River, I knew that I would have to search it out. The Divine is “a bourbon-barrel aged brown ale of ethereal character. The strong brown ale base brew left to meditate in Woodford Reserve bourbon barrels for the better part of a year. The celestial slumber brought forth wondrous flavors and aromas of wooden vanilla, toffee, caramel, black licorice, and dark fruit, accompanied by a pleasant bourbon warmth.”

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Review – Salted Caramel Brownie Brown Ale from New Belgium

I had not been a beaming fan of the last chocolate beer that New Belgium produced, but the imprimatur of Ben & Jerry’s and the addition of cocoa and vanilla powders to this beer was enough for me to buy it.

The ice cream beer (as I will call it) pours a medium brown color with a reddish streak to it when held up to the light. The aroma is a lovely milk chocolate. I don’t know if I would equate it with brownies, per se, but it is very nice. The mouthfeel is light but there is a swirl of both chocolate and vanilla that is redolent of a milkshake along with a toasted malt note as well. I am also catching a bit of salt intermittently too. And part of the proceeds of the beer towards combating climate change.

This practically begs to be paired with ice cream. Maybe not Ben & Jerry’s which might overwhelm it, but maybe a nice plain vanilla bean.

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GABF Gold & Unknown Brewery # 3 – 7th Settlement

The last golden stop is at 7th Settlement of Dover, New Hampshire who won gold in the American Brown ale category for their 1623 Almighty Brown.

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7th Settlement Brewery is named for Dover, New Hampshire which according to the brewery is “the oldest permanent settlement in New Hampshire, and 7th in the New World.”

Their tag line of “Don’t Buy Beer from Strangers” is a succinct buy local plea that I think should be a nationwide mantra.

Now if I was tasting their beer, I would be sampling the following….(by year)

1623 Brown Ale then the 1896 wheat before moving to the Rear View Roggenbier then going on to the Amarillo Evening and their Milk Stout to round it out.

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Featured Review – Far Post from Wiens Brewing

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We head to Temecula and Wiens Brewing for this review. Far Post Brown Ale conjures up images of soccer fields to me but the brewers have other ideas. Envisioning arrows and banners and battle.

This ale starts with an aroma of chocolate lava cake. Milk chocolate primarily. That doesn’t follow into the flavor though there is a touch of cocoa in the taste. It is light but still cake-y. And the label does not lie. It is quite the dry finish. I noticed a pucker in my mouth as I sipped away on this one.

I wasn’t sold at first but the chocolate keeps coming at you and I am starting to ponder which desserts to match with it as I drink.

Wiens beers are starting to pop up on L.A. beer shelves and are worth a look.

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Up From the Cellar – Supplication from Russian River Brewing

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I finally broke down and brought up a Russian River beer, Supplication.  Which the brewery website describes as a “Brown Ale aged in used Pinot Noir barrels from local Sonoma County wineries. It is aged for about 12 months with sour cherries, brettanomyces, lactobacillus, and pediococcus added to each barrel. Flavors from the cherries, Pinot Noir and oak balance each other nicely with a little funk from the brett.”

This beer has a 100% rating on Ratebeer.  So it must be good.  Here is my thumbnail review from 2010, “All I can say is TART. A great sipper filled with cherries in every sip. Only downside to me is that it really dries out the tongue. Had to have water handy to re-hydrate.”

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The aroma of this beer is big. Kombucha style tartness just fills the nasal passages. This is, for sure, not a gateway sour. There is a bit of pie cherry in the nose but it is second fiddle to the sour.

There is a bit of Sweet Tart powdery sour notes in the first sip. Cherry is there as well. But there is something in the nose that just tastes off. Too vinegary at this point. If you search past the sour, there is a tiny bit of tannic flavor and a smidge of oak. But you gotta hunt that down.

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The Verdict? I think this one passed prime and is sliding inexorably downward. The various bugs have gone too far with this particular bottle. Adding one off flavor that upsets the balance.

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Lou

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Eagle Rock Brewery will be unveiling a new beer LOU (the beer, not the ballplayer) as part of the Ales for ALS series.  It will kick-off tomorrow night at the ERB taproom.

Here is the info about the beer and the charity that it will benefit: “As our contribution to the Ales for ALS charity this year, we’re excited to introduce “LOU.” Lou’s a hop forward American Brown Ale with hints of chocolate, caramel and roasted malt flavor. The beer features the proprietary blend of hops created by Loftus Ranches and Hopunion (heavy on the Citra and Mosaic notes) for the Ales for ALS charity. We’ll be releasing LOU here on Thursday, July 10, and $1 of every pint we sell for the duration of LOU (not just the one day) goes towards the ALS Therapy Development Institute. We’ll also be participating in the larger Ales for ALS event up in Alameda at Faction Brewing (July 26 INFO). We’re very proud to be able to do our part for such a great cause.”

Helping out while getting a great beer is an easy way to make the world a better place.  So do it.