Appealing dark chocolate-malted cocoa frontage of mildly dry brown ale allows quaint nut roast and relegated molasses sugaring to sedately linger over multigrain-breaded hop toasting, appeasing light-to-moderate-bodied dark ale fanatics.   

On tap at Ambulance, English brown ale perhaps stays a bit too nuttily sour for mainstream tastes. Soured prune astringency seeps into coffee-stained walnut and Brazil nut midst. Recessive brown rice tea, light-roast coffee and Blackstrap molasses illusions falter.  

Intriguing English Brown Ale neatly duplicates molasses-draped gingerbread cookie. Brown-sugared nutmeg, cinnamon, clove and cardamom spicing as well as light vanilla hints sweeten gingerbread theme over slightly coarse hop astringency, ascending orange peel bittering and light pumpkin pie piquancy. Sharp ginger spicing really takes hold at finish. Well-done Christmas dessert treat.

On tap at Taphouse Grille, sessionable dry-hopped English brown ale scatters walnut chocolate cake illusions across mossy earthen peat. Brown tea-like followup seeps into mild hop bittering and light biscuit malts. Lightweights' delight.

Tolerable dessert beer spreads dark toffee all over creamy brown chocolate, vanilla and coffee illusions. Chocolate pudding, marzipan, almond, pecan and hazelnut undertones further sweeten burnt caramel malting. But coarse hop-charred bittering counters with heavy-handed astringency.

Better defined as a dewy mocha-nutted brown ale than English strong ale, rocky tan-headed amber-browned medium body gains unwanted astringency by its dark-spiced caramel-malted finish. Faint plum, raisin and walnut illusions and hesitant barleywine nip fade abruptly.