Broad Ripple Diving Duck American Brown Ale

Brewed by Broad Ripple Brewing Co.
Style: Brown Ale
Indianapolis, Indiana USA

Think more flavorful, fresher version of Pete’s Wicked. Spicy hop, yet bready, chocolate malt aroma. Fairly dry but substantial maltiness, with hop flavor more dominant. Pete needs to quit counting $ and kick the recipe up to this. Good stuff.

From a sampler: This ale is a very dark brown color with a medium thick beige head. Thin and solid lacing. The aroma is mildly malty with some brown sugar and caramel. Full-bodied for a Brown Ale, with a surprisingly smooth mixture of malt, caramel, nuts and toffee. The finish is smooth as well making this a pretty good session ale.

On Tap: I liked this the best of my two brews (passing through in car, driving, and girlfriend getting impatient otherwise would have had more). A well balanced hop-malt flavor and aroma. But the flavor almost had a APA flavor to it. Loved the malt flavoring here.

On cask.
Pours a hazy dark copper brown with an indestructible tan head of tightly packed bubbles. Aroma reveals a distinct American hop presence and a fair doses of malt. Flavor is hop up front and well-balanced by sweet malt, accompanied by a lightly dry grain flavor. Certainly on the bitter side for a brown ale, so it’s appropriate that they have dubbed this an "American brown ale" to distinguish it from its more traditional English counterpart. Still, this American experiment does not stray too far from its original roots and it works better than I thought it would based on its commercial description and its liberal (for a brown) use of hops. Good stuff.

Draft sample at brewpub on cask. Poureed hazy dark brown hue with average rocky off-white head that mostly lasted with good lacing. Moderate toasted malt aroma. Flavor was moderate toasted balanced with an average bitter finish of moderate duration. Medium smooth body. Good brew.

cask at the brewpub - Pours medium brown with a lingering white head. It has a mild aroma of toasted caramel malt. The toasted caramel leads the sweet flavor that then finishes in a pleasantly lingering mild bitterness. It’s medium bodied and lightly carbonated.

cask at the brewpub. pours a brown ruby red. nutty, slightly hoppy, with a touch of mocha.

Indy Brewers Fest 2009 - firkin tent - Triple Hop? Aroma is toasted nutty malts with a hint of hops. Flavor is chewy malts, nut butter and a hoppy aftertaste that doesn’t really fit. A bit stale and off.