Barley Island Dirty Helen Brown Ale

Brewed by Barley Island Brewing
Style: Brown Ale
Noblesville, Indiana USA

Lightly dark mahognay color with a decent head and moderate lace. Aroma is sweet carmely malt with a tinge of nuttieness. Flavor starts sweet and malty gives way to a carmel nuttieness and finishes moderatly bitter and thin. Nothing complex, just malt with a bitter end, a little thin and a bit too sweet, but not bad.

12oz bottle-A medium to dark brown with a head that dissipates rapidly. An aroma of malt and caramel. A taste of dark malt and sweetness with a bitterness on the end. Not bad but light for a brown.

Draft sampler at Barley Island. Light brown pour with a moderate frothy off-white head that diminished slowly with some lacing. Light caramel malt aroma. Medium body. Moderate roasted sweet malt flavor with an average small bitter finish.

This beer was a little too malty for my taste. It is not a bad beer, just not one of my favorites. I will trying this one from the tap to see if it is better.

12 oz Bottle. Pours a medium brown with a thin tan head. The taste is smooth, very drinkable, with a nice balance of malt and bitterness. The aroma is a bit nutty, with a bit of hops. A decent brew.

Bottle: A carmel brown hue with a fizzy tan head which lasted but did not produce much lace. The aroma is walnut, caramel, roasted malt, a tocuh of mocha, grassy and floral hops, and a bit of some dirty yeast esters. The taste is moderately balanced between the sweet malt, mild bitterness and acidity. While not much depth, it is drinkable. Overall it is a minor step above the standard brown.

A very red beer, barely brown, with a dense, tan head that laces well down the glass. Aroma of baker’s chocolate and caramel with a touch of warm fermented fruitiness but lacking complexity. Flavor and aroma are one with the addition of a nice, long bitterness and hop flavor that extends the finish and some milk on the palate. It seems a little thin for an American brown ale, not very complex, but I know how hard it is to brew this style of beer and include complexity. It has a great drinkability.

Slightly hazy brown with a full tan head. Aroma is malty, but strange. It has a husky and somewhat nutty aroma that is very briefly remenisient of peanut butter. Flavor is first sweet then has a sharp malt tang that isn’t necessiarly welcomed. Tangyness settles on the pallate and takes over. It lends a bit of a decent grist malt character. A bit of a redeaming malt sweetness as it warms.