Barley Island Dirty Helen Brown Ale

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

Nice looking beer. It is a cola color with a cool tan / pumpkin head that hangs around for a while. Aroma is sweet roasted malt and a bit of hop. The beer itself is not as sweet as the aroma would indicate. It is a roasted and bitter flavor and is reminiscent of a porter. Feels smooth and creamy. In my book this is an underrated beer at 39%.

Nice, dark brown brew with a slightly yeasty taste to it. You can easily smell the aroma hops from this, but it tastes quite bready. A nice beer to have sitting on the porch waiting the sky for whatever, it’s not too strong and certainly can compliment the senses.

33 cl bottle, Indianapolis, IN. Cola colour, faint sweet malt aroma that transfers to the flavor. Some sharp aftertaste on the finish, otherwise a decent beer.

Typical brown ale aromas. Dark brown color with a beige ring for head. Medium to full body with fizzy/creamy carbonation. Flavor is roasted caramel with a good amount of non-descript bitter. It’s "sweet", but not very. The bitter tends to balance it out. More like an APA where the malt got a little too intense. It does seem a tad floral, so that may suggest English similarities. It’s a damn good drink, and I suggest it is somewhat underrated.

This is a ok brown ale, but really not that different from anything else. Dogfish Head’s Indiana Brown and Bell’s Best Brown Ale are better examples of a brown ale. This is pretty standard, but not as bad as 37 percentile.

Pours dark reddish brown with a mostly receding wispy tan head. Aroma of nuts. caramel, alefruits and crackery crystal malt. Taste is sweet chocolate, toffee, mild English hoppiness with some of the earthy characteristics I like from Fuggles. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with soft carbonation. Pretty easy drinking, quaffable brown ale.

Decent brown ale. Cloudy and unfiltered. Fruity malt taste. Presents better than it tastes. Very interested to visit the brewery in Noblesville.

Typical brown ale with an accentuated sense of smokiness. The palate is too thin for real enjoyment--it didn’t tingle or glow on the tongue--and it slips into nothingness. Still, it was drinkable and an easy beer to not find annoying. Sessionable.