On tap at Amazing Grapes, engaging Belgian strong dark ale brings candi-sugared rum raisin sweetness and brown chocolate creaming to sharp hop spicing. Fruit-caked fig, cherry and pine nut illusions ride alongside bourbon-soaked purple grape, blackberry and peach tones underneath the surface. Brewery defunct: 2016.
On tap at Barcade – Jersey City, ‘luscious’ English-styled old ale allows port-soaked oak chips to subtly affect caramel-toasted chocolate malting (of original Old Brown Dog Ale) and vanilla-spiced marzipan piquancy above mild earthen hop resin. Rum-spiced pecan, chestnut and butternut illusions gain syrupy brown-sugared molasses sweetness as well as flickering fig-date passivity.
“Lusty” medium-bodied brown ale places rich gourmet coffee roast above lengthy walnut char to contrast caramel-sugared brown chocolate sweetness. Ancillary espresso, vanilla, cocoa nibs and toffee illusions augment dark-roast mocha malting. Luxurious coffee adjunct truly jettisons this enduring digestif.
On tap at Blue Grasshopper, placid amber-hazed brown ale retains lighter stylistic template. Mildly creamed caramel malts and dry wood-lacquered hops get softly integrated for fruited tea-like flow. Red apple, peach and fig nuances coalesce in the midst.
On tap at Blue Grasshopper, middling moderate-bodied English-styled brown ale offers toffee-sugared nut roast and caramelized dried fruiting to iced tea-like sweetness. Light pecan, fig and plum illusions fade quickly. In the bottle, dryer cocoa-powdered Bakers chocolate influence informs sourer-than-sweet dried fruiting.
On tap at Flying Saucer in St. Louis, creamily rich oatmeal-sugared brown ale loads black chocolate-malted affluence, nutty coffee resilience, black-breaded rye graining and burnt walnut singe into aggressive dry-roasted hop bittering.
On tap at Ambulance, heavenly espresso-flavored brown ale takes brewers’ Brown Angel on a milk-sugared cold brewed coffee journey. Dry black coffee bittering contrasts sugar-creamed espresso frontage and brown-sugared oatmeal bottom. Tertiary vanilla, caramel latte, cappuccino and hazelnut sweeten the back end. A delightful breakfast alternative.
Confounding wild-riced flagship nut brown brings soggy grain-roasted nuttiness and curious blood-soured mocha opulence to recessive rye malting and mild browned fruiting (desiccated fig, bosc pear, roasted grape, apple rot). Brown rice adjunct sweetens the fruitier aspects and maca-rooted chestnut roast.
On tap at Abominable Snowfest, smoky walnut-shelled mocha malting receives dry Centennial hop oiling to contrast light maple caramel saucing. Slick plastique scamper covers bitter nut-charred continuance and dark-roasted black chocolate bottom.
Made from an ancient brown ale recipe, light 3.5% ABV oud bruin lets cloying caramel malting offer Coca Cola and sarsaparilla-like sweetness to dewy cellar dankness. Chalky chocolate influence gets sour.
Festive 2015 Christmastime brown ale blends “caramel and dark fruit malts,” picking up sharp hop astringency (50 IBU’s) and wily alcohol burn (7.7% ABV) to briefly overwhelm burgundy-dried fruit spicing. Dewy tobacco roast and dark chocolate mildness caress sugarplum, date, fig and raisin illusions as well as sweet orange peel spell. Subtle nutmeg, ginger and fennel wisps waver below.
Satisfying mocha-dominant brown ale in a can brings cold-pressed Guatemalan coffee roast to oily hop resin, oats-dried pale malting and mild earthen nuttiness. Reminiscent of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, perhaps, its creamy cappuccino snip and dark chocolate smidge sufficiently reinforce the day-old bitter java finish.
