Breckenridge 471 Small Batch Mighty Brown

Brewed by Breckenridge Brewery
Style: Brown Ale
Denver, Colorado USA

22oz bottle. Small beige head atop cloudy dark red-brown body. Aroma is moderately sweet, cherry, chocolate, some nut. Taste is sweet, cherry, caramel, some chocolate, light alcohol warming. Medium-full body, some stickiness.

( 22oz bottle ) Pours a dark brown body with a small tan head. Aroma of cola, roasted nuts, caramel, and cocoa. Flavor of roasted malt, cocoa, strong alcohol (for a brown ale), and caramel.

Bottle. Cola colored brown with a beige head. Aroma is very nutty and earthy with light spicy hops, big caramel, sweet malt, and chocolate covered nuts. Taste has more earthy and spicy notes, sweet malt, big caramel, chocolate and a lactic tartness. Maybe some tart berry as well. Body is light-medium with a bubbly carbonation. Finishes with more big caramel, sweet malt, chocolate covered nuts, earthy flavors, spicy and floral hops and berries. Perhaps cherries.

I don’t know if there was something wrong with the bottle, but it just wasn’t that good. Pour was promising, with a nice ceamy brown color and a slightly tan head. It was all downhill from there, notes of sour and sweetness powered the aroma, with flavors that followed in that same line. Could have been a bad bottle.

This is as as dark "brown" beer as will find with the color nearly black with a medium tan head and good lacing rings. Nose of roasted malts with nuts, chocolate and coffee. Medium heavy body and a good mouthfeel. The flavors are malts, chocolate, coffee and some bitter hops. Dry and bitter finish. Thanks Strykzone for this good beer.

Sample at Breckenridge Ball Park Brew Pub in Denver. The beer is a deep brown color with a medium beige head that is fully lasting. Rings of lacing on the glass. Aroma of roasted nuts, chocolate and coffee. Medium body with flavors of grainy malt, chocolate, roasted coffee and some hops. The finish is sweet malt up front with a lingering moderately bitter coffee aftertaste. Decent overall.

A solid pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces a three-finger thick, nicely browned, dark tan colored head. The beer is a dark brown color that shows a deep, brilliantly clear, richly ruby hued color when held up to the light. The aroma is quite fruity smelling; it is mostly hop derived but some malt seems to accentuate the fruit character too. There is a distinct currant aroma here that mixes with notes of candied orange zest, concentrated tangerine, and a bright (almost blindingly so at times) berry character. All of this is anchored by a toasted malt character that contributes notes of caramelized grain sugars (which definitely boosts the fruit notes), browned whole-grain cracker aromatics, deeply browned & sharp smelling bread crust notes and biscuit driven malt. The nose of this beer has a nice mix of dominant hop character with a quite noticeable, yet supporting rich malt character.

The rich berry notes continue in the flavor; dark, caramelized grain notes really seem to accentuate this side of the hops. The hops are still dominant in the flavor, but there is a lot of malt here that is just tailing by a fraction of a second. The beer is rich bodied, though not thick, there is enough heft to cling to the palate though. The toasted malt and caramel notes linger on the palate along with a rich berry / citrus note. The fruit notes bring out notes of bergamot, infused blackberry, ruby-red grapefruit, currant and even some notes of lychee. There is a solid bitterness here that can be a touch biting and it does provide a solid anchor in the finish to the fruit and malt that is found up front. The hop character really contributes to the perceived sweetness here, while the malt character provides a richness to the overall palate effect despite the omnipresent hop character.

This is perhaps not the most complex beer, but it is very enjoyable; almost a marriage of an IPA and a big, malty Brown Ale. This works quite well as there is not enough roast malt to get in the way of the ample hop character, but it still has a rich maltiness to it. I would be quite happy to drink quite a few pints of this.