Cottonwood Low Down Brown Ale

Brewed by Carolina Beer Company
Style: Brown Ale
Mooresville, North Carolina USA

Poured from bottle into beer mug. Subtlety is the word that best describes this one. A foamy tan head tops this deep brown brew. Lightly toasty and sweet malts are in the aroma. I noticed caramel in the flavor, and as it warmed the malty toastiness grew some. Very smooth on the tongue and an easy finish.

Bottle--Really good stuff, for some reason I wasn’t expecting much and boy, was I pleased. The color was brown with a touch of copper with a small/medium tan head. There was definit sweet taste (as noted by others) along with the nutty flavor and the malts coming up to finish off the taste. Great stuff. asheville wine 1.20

Draught. Deep smoky copper color; small frothed milk putty head leaves almost no lace. Profoundly toasty, nutty (roasted chestnuts, how seasonally appropriate), breadcrusty aroma with accents of butter and dill. Stunning sweet malt flavors showcase honey and flowers, and has nuances of mint, lemon zest, lychee, diacetyl, and (barely) mocha. Tea and a lollipop fruitiness emerge over time. Palate is lightly syrupy and oily. Clipped finish leads to a restrained aftertaste of peanut brittle, apricot preserves, and fresh grass. Brown ale? Old ale or pumped-up Irish red, maybe. Fantastic beer nonetheless. If it was sold locally in bottles, it’d be in my fridge right now.

(12 oz bottle: Obtained in trade with BlueDevil0206, thanks James!) Another solid brown ale out of North Carolina, this offering just slams you with moderately sweet chocolate. I wish this came in a bomber because I’m gonna suck this 12-ounce bottle down in no time. Very tasty, but I need to show some discipline or it’ll be gone before I’m finished writing. Beside the prominent chocolate is some light roast which adds an extra component to the flavor, but it’s so light that this still seems like a pretty one-dimensional beer. But again, it’s still damn tasty. Body is pretty typically medium, but the moderate carbonation seems perfectly done. The nose is mostly chocolaty and somewhat earthy, but I’m also picking something vaguely like cracker . Dark brown in color is almost a walnut shade. Nearly half an inch of beige-colored head forms during the pour, and that settles to a wide ring without leaving any lacing on the glass. Pretty good brown ale overall, but I must admit that I’m less impressed now that the beer warms toward room temperature; it seems less chocolaty. Oh well, just drink it chilled.

Great taste. It was pretty sweet in flavor with an appropriate bit of malt and alcohol taste. Cottonwood tends to impress me. I’m surprised that the overall percentage is so low.

12 oz. bottle 11/12/05. Pours a medium brown color with red hues. Medium off-white creamy head. Bad malts to the nose and taste. Extremley watery and kind of tasteless. Little bit smokey taste. Very un-impressed.

A pretty good beer. Good balance between malt and hops, medium bodied, finishes with hints of malt.

A great brown ale by a beer company that I generally enjoy. It did have a weak aroma, but I thought the decent brown ale taste - without being overly like Newcastle. I agree with many reviewers that it was strangely sweet. That said, I enjoyed it and drink it on-tap at Shula’s 347 in Norfolk almost every time i am there