Unconventional 2015 dark ale uses unprocessed turbinado sugaring and roasted chocolate wheat to thicken chewy molasses-honeyed Vienna malt sweetness above dry earthen hop restraint. At the midst, spicy anise goo spreads across massive mocha theme as hazelnut and walnut awaken the back end. Light coffee and toffee sentiments plus pipe tobacco aromatics find tertiary space alongside wispy burgundy-bourbon-port wining.

Inspiringly complex full body offers maple-sugared molasses sap and burgundy-licked dried fruiting to caramel-burnt hazelnut toasting. Fudgy chocolate respite deepens nuttiness as buttered pecan, almond and praline reinforce well-integrated hazelnut heft. Dried cherry, raisin and fig nuances waver beside tertiary gingerbread, vanilla, creme brulee and malted milk ball sweetness. A rich, creamy dessert treat.

Sessionably smooth English-styled moderation brings stylish mocha nuttiness to mild hop char. Creamy hazelnut chocolate insistence picks up cocoa bean, cacao nibs, roasted coffee and sweet vanilla subsidy as well as cola nut, macadamia and walnut illusions. Modest dried fruiting (blackberry-fig-date) lost to gassy carbolic acidity.

Sessionable moderate body brings subtle pecan roast to faded caramel-toffee sugaring. Honeyed peanut, praline, cola nut and brown rice tea illusions stay below the surface. Cardboard-like malts pick up buttery rye smidge at the distant nutty finish.

Using a similar sinewy yeast profile as BBC’s Amber Ale and informed by its reliable maple-sugared nuttiness, fine medium-bodied dark ale places cola-walnut-hazelnut conflux above toasted rye breading and burnt caramel malts. Tertiary red grape snip nosedives.

Dramatic mahogany-hued light-to-medium body bashes toasted nuttiness with roasted barleymalts and lactic coffee-soured chocolate malting. Earthen peat mustiness consumes variable cola, hazelnut, pecan and peanut illusions as well as minor maple molasses creaming.

On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead, transitional “brown IPA” with “nuttier caramel” influence maintains bitterer dark-roasted hop char, sharper piney resolution and thicker black chocolate malting than most stylishly similar Cascadian Dark Ales. Dirty earthen minerality accrues black-breaded toasting, dark cocoa chalking and mild coffee sway above murky grapefruit-pineapple tartness. Roasted walnut, hazelnut and cola nut seep into heavy mocha richness.

On tap at Bronx Alehouse, murky dark-spiced dried fruiting overruns nebulous English ‘nut brown’ styling of hybridized Belgian dark ale. Distant coffee-dried walnut snip contrasts wispy vanilla caramel creaming.

Perfectly straightforward English-styled brown ale just a tad less rounded than astonishing Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale. Maple-sugared hazelnut and cola sweetness contrasts astringent walnut-dried hop char and raw molasses bittering. Tobacco-roasted barley malt crisping enhances pleasant nutty resolve. Brown-sugared dark toffee undertones increase sweet side.