Dark chocolate waft, green apple quickness, and tannic red grape tartness rise above date-fig conflux bordering earthy peat resin. Burnt hop dryness and chaffed wheat restraint smear otherwise tinny sour malt finish of frothy flesh-tone laced dark amber.

Perfectly balanced blend of an IPA and brown ale. “Caramelized brown sugar” extract, dark maple syrup, and prune ripeness provide sinewy texture underlined by spicy adjuncts. Persistent barley presence contrasted by hop bitterness and sour mash. Burnt chicory finish lingers, adding further resilience. An exquisite complement to barbecue.

Ambitious prune-browned middleweight gains dry raisin assertion and pliable orange-peeled tangerine tartness above soft earthen dewiness. Fizzy carbolic fluff undermines soothing barley-roasted nuttiness, losing some luster by fruit-dried malt-smoked finish.

Fizzy carbonation nearly negates belly-bloating creaminess of billowy-headed Californian. Burnt coffee seeps through foamy Brussels lace, cloaking bittersweet chocolate, soured hard candy, mellow tangerine, and variable spices.

Though never as ‘thick-skinned’ as hippo its named after, this astringent maple-malted brown ale fortifies bittersweet powdered chocolate assertion with creamy caramel-butterscotch-molasses link, wood-smoked barley thread, and herbal spices. Prickly hops carbonate sour prune dryness leading to candied yeast finish.

Steadfast American Brown Ale layers hop-moderated stewed prune and green raisin souring above imminent bruised apple, sweet peach, and tart banana illusions. Meager nuttiness and weak grain backbone drag down Black Bear slightly.

Blood-thick ruby amber brown ale may please wine drinkers with its grape tannin consistency, oak-y cherry-grapefruit dryness, and tart plum restraint.

Effective maple-sapped pureed raisin frontage picks up creamy chocolate sweetness and dry cocoa-powdered remnant. Earthen hop resin inundates mild herbal subsidy.

Viscous oak-aged Flanders-styled ‘oud bruin’ (old brown) offers prune-soured cherry pucker and lactic cocoa recession above mild caramel malt fringe. Closer to gauzy copper ale than rich brown ale.

Caramel-toasted wheat-honeyed pipe tobacco sweetness leads the way for biscuit-y brown ale, but tinny dry-hopped walnut finish dispels up-front promise to earthen grain bottom.

Brandy-sweet crimson-highlighted brown ale promotes creamy cherry vanilla froth, mild nut astringency, and plum-date register saddling bitter hop linger. Brawny finish bends molasses into drier chocolate slit.

Thickly resin-textured brown ale matches aromatic chocolate lightness to thin malt flow and bitter nutty bottom. Ultimately indistinct brew lost between middle of the road red ale and cheap stout. Brewery defunct: 2005.