Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale

Brewed by Dogfish Head Brewery
Style: Brown Ale
Milton, Delaware USA

(12oz bottle from Whole Foods; Sample from July 18, 2008 Beer Club Meeting) Great frothy head… excellent lacing. A deep dark color… aromas of raisins and malt. Flavor much like a lively porter. Chocolate, roasted malt, earthy and dark. Aftertaste solid and sweet. Yep, like a very good light porter. Sweet!

hard to believe outside of a porter you could find something this decadent. this is richer then a chocolate milkshake. others disagree clearly, but this is very balanced for a DFH product, the malt truly shines through, the hops are upfront but truly in harmony with the roasted notes. nice dark brown sugar coats the tounge and like a scotch ale it exhibits porter qualities without being a porter. this is a brown ale to wild levels of excess, kudos to the brewers for taking yet another style to the nth degree, where n equals infinity!

12 oz bottle. Pours a lovely mahogany color with a small beige head that dissipates quickly. Nose is more like Orkney Dark Island. Roasty malt with some smoke and caramel and piney hop notes. I am expecting a hoppy scotch style porter. Much like many DFH beers this is a bit unbalanced. To much hops and not enough malt, however they are going for a bit of a scotch IPA so maybe they hit the mark. Regardless the bitter coffee finish is a bit unpleasant a bit to aggressive. The middle has a nice malt background and the alcohol notes are just right. There is some chocolate and caramel present but this is not sweet enough to be a scotch anything. A nice attempt but I don’t think it quite achieved what it wanted to.

12 oz bottle from The Galway Tribes (Frankfort, IL). A very interesting concept that I was excited to try (But hesitant to by in packaged form). Pours a deep dark almost black with ruby notes hue with a small dark brown cocoa head that is bubbly and pretty. Aromas are largely chocolate, coffee, roasted malts, and a hint of the typical dogfish hops. Initial is largely the same. A full bodied mouthfeel consisting of chocolate, cocoa, roasted dark malts, and touches of dried dark fruits and a very nice hop presence (Hitting spot on with the Brown/IPA concept). Porterish almost though (with some of their hop presences). Very drinkable, very enjoyable. Grrrrrreat!!

Pours dark brown with a thin off white head. Nice roast flavor. Heavy malt and some dark fruit. Very drinkable brown though, well done.

Pours a dark brown in color with ruby highlights around the edges. No head on the pour, only a slight froth around the perimeter of the glass. Smell is dark, roasted malts and a hint of piney hops. Wow, there is a lot more coffee in this brown than I was ever expecting. Caught me off guard. This is a very good brown ale. Full and roasty on the mouthfeel. There’s just a bit of a harsh roasted coffee aftertaste. Other than that, this is a winner.

Smells sweet, sugary. Strong, chocolate, toasted coffee, brown sugar malt taste with a background of hops. Extremely complex ale here, lots of taste, well balanced. I’m not usually a fan of brown ales because they tend to be watery, but this was actually pretty thick. This is what all other brown ales should aspire to.

Pours dark brown with one finger beige head. Nose of citrus hops and caramel malt- quite powerful and even evident before pouring. Flavor is roasty and sweet with sweet raisin, caramel and molasses. Slight hop tingle in there as well. Malt character is outstanding for the style and well hopped as well. Palate is thick but not overbearing. Quite drinkable. Definitely the best ale of the style I have tried to date.