Consummate rich brown ale loads hickory-smoked walnut-hazelnut-pecan peanut shelling inside dark-roasted chocolate malts and buckwheat-toasted cookie dough yeast. Embittered charcoal-stained hop char contrasts sweet mocha side as ancillary Blackstrap molasses, ground coffee, vanilla bean and espresso llusions fill out the deep back end of this unspecifically stylized, yet distinctly defined, autumn ale.
Fabulously hybridized coffee-infused brown ale skirts imperial stout and mocha porter comparisons thanks to nuttier pale malt dryness overriding dark-roasted chocolate fudging. Cold-brewed One Village espresso roast gets mixed with post-fermented Kimberton coffee to climactic perfection as its sharp hop char lingeringly enlivens the creamy java theme. Hazelnut coffee, espresso, vanilla and maple molasses tones reinforce the nutty bottom. Serve to pale ale lovers sitting on the fence about coffee-flavored brews.
On tap at Biggie’s Clam Bar in Ramsey, ill-defined brown ale loads candi-sugared Belgian yeast and caramel-roasted dried fruiting into winter warmer-like spicing. Lack of stylistic nuttiness is stifling. Distant chestnut, pecan and praline tones lack luster. In the midst, sharp peppery hops contrast black cherry, bruised banana and fig notions as well as treacly vanilla sweetness. In the bottle, wintry copper-cleared moderation layers sporadic holiday-spiced caramel, toffee and chocolate sweetness above Belgian-sugared dried fruiting as well as roasted wheat malting. Fizzy carbolics deaden peppery yeast impact and subtle raisin-fig-plum conflux, leaving phenol hop astringency in its wake.
Generously detailed mocha-nutty dried fruiting sweetens above minor citra hop bittering. Black cherry, black grape, blackberry and soured prune influence roasted chocolate-cocoa malting as well as penetrating hazelnut-walnut-cola nut resilience. Black-breaded pumpernickel spine picks up brown-sugared molasses sapping.
Dry reedy-hopped nuttiness battles back brisk citric pining and varnished wood tones for unspecific medium-bodied dark ale. Phenolic nature and soapy undercurrent blur ashen walnut-roasted Brazil nut bittering and resinous hemp oiling.
On tap at Three Wise Monks, busy hybridized ‘hopped up’ brown ale collaboration pleats mocha porter sweetness to IPA-fruited dark saison souring. Chocolate-covered cherry tartness straddles soured red grape esters and ripe nectar juicing. Ashen hop bittering and chalky cocoa acridity contrast its chewy caramel core.
Negligible honey-glazed cured ham influence fails to adequately integrate with molasses-sapped brown chocolate spicing, astringent nuttiness and toasted buckwheat base. Strangely, Belgian-like candi-sugared fig and date sweetness picks up the slack. But phenol butternut, hazelnut and cola salting receives sour metallic solvency.
Happy marriage between robust brown ale and hop-centric India Pale Ale works dark chocolate nuttiness into citric-oiled hop resin and latent wood char. Burnt caramel malting picks up hazelnut molasses sweetness as recessive grapefruit, pineapple and tangerine fruiting dwells beneath.
Ironically, Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast while I consumed this hybridized ‘hop-flooded’ amber-hazed brown ale. Grapefruit-peeled pine resin leads the way for citric-laden medium body. Fruited hop spicing heightens subsidiary toffee malting. Tertiary pineapple, prune and raisin illusions abound.
