Carolina Nut Brown Ale

Brewed by Carolina Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale
Holly Springs, North Carolina USA

(Bottled on 12/20/2006, best by 03/20/2007) Auburn colored ale with a sweet palate. Pretty straight forward ale with a slight cheese flavor that tastes like cheddar.

Bottle. Pours a dark amber (a little suprising) with a little white head. Nose is nutty and roasty. Definitely something going on in the flavor but can’t really make it out. Nothing really stands out. A bit watery with a strange palate I cant put words to. Not very enjoyable, but drinkable.

Bottled - Pours your typical dark brown with ruby highlights.. Lots of roastiness on the nose.. and toasted malts on the tounge.. decent..

From notes 9/17/03: Pours a clear mahogany/chestnut color with a minimal head. What little head that did form was a light tan that formed a murky random covering on top of the brown liquid. Spotty lacing. Aromas were chock full of nuttiness and malt. A sweetness in the air. The taste was nutty as I had hoped, with the added bonus of sweet malt. This isn’t cloying or sickeningly sweet, just the right amount of sweetness. A touch of coffee grounds or chocolate-covered coffee bean here in the taste too. Little in the way of hops to balance this out. Pretty average mouthfeel. There is a rather annoying and odd taste after the swallow. It’s as if there is a charcoal ash feel with a little bit of tin thrown in. A peculiar aftertaste. As it warms, it almost feels as if you drank this out of an ashtray. Not the best of lines to read in a beer review, but there you have it.

The aroma is sweet, chocolate, caramel - the taste does not match in any way, nutty, coffee with a fair amount of bitterness and slight porter-like sourness. Brown ales are not my favorite style, but this was as good as most I have had.

decent brown color with a tan head that had no retention. mostly chocolate notes on the nose with some nut like qualites. mild and smooth chocolate flavor, some hops on the finish.

Draught. Clear brown color with tan head. Nutty, milk chocolate nose with a hint of sprucy hops. Slightly sweet with roasted milk chocolate flavor and spicy finish. Very good brown ale.

(12 oz bottle: Obtained in trade with BlueDevil0206, thanks James!) Chocolate, roasted coffee and some pepper/spice in the aromatic nose, but while the peppery spiciness adds an interesting dimension, it’s also seems a little out of place. In the flavor, the sweetness is kept mild to allow me to fully appreciate the rather significant coffee, chocolate and moderately bitter roast, plus the added nuttiness not really present in the nose. Also interesting as the beer warms a bit is a bit of rye flavor, and perhaps that’s the spiciness I am picking up in the nose. Medium bodied, but with sweetness kept in check, the palate is fairly dry. Deep ruddy amber could also be considered a light brown, but either way, the ruddiness very apparent. Nearly an inch of light tan head forms during the pour, and though it settles to a very wide ring nearly covering the beer’s surface, it leaves a doily pattern of lace on the glass. Overall, this is quite a nice brown ale, fully flavorful and nicely balanced, and sets itself apart from most of the generic brown ales that are produced in this country.