Dominion California Double Brown Ale

Brewed by Old Dominion Brewing Co.
Style: American Strong Ale
Dover, Delaware USA

OD got this one right. Double Brow ale is what I consider it but balanced with spices. Excellent offering and very drinkable.

Poured a reddish, mahogany color with a medium sized tan head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of roast, caramel, nuts, light chocolate, cognac, and possibly some port as well. Taste of caramel, toffee, nuts and roast, with a pleasant hoppiness. The alcohol was there but for the most part it was hidden very well.

Sampled from a growler from the brewery. Pours a nice foamy tan head even after sitting overnight in the growler. Has a malty scent with a trace of green tea. Nicely hopped and well balanced flavor of malts, chocolate, nuts and very light coffee taste. Nice bitter finish. Another very good beer from Old Dominion, but then again, do they every produce bad ones?

Tasted from Growler. Poured a dark reddish/brown color with larger sized off white head. Aromas and tastes of nuts, caramel, and citrus. I never would have guessed it was 8%. This beer was very easy to drink.

Dark almost opaque ruby/brown body topped by a dense creamy tan head. Glass lace is superb. Fruity citurs hop aroma followed by a nutty bit of roasted malt. Smells very fresh and enticing. The flavor is citrus, grapefruit hoppiness followed by medium sweet nutty roasted malt. Not overwhelmingly a brown ale, much hoppier. Medium dry palate, alcohol comes forward towards the end. An interesting beer. Here’s to O.D. doing more "excursions" in this vein.

Sampled from a growler. Citrusy, resiny hops right up front in the aroma, followed by subtle caramel, chocolate, and coffee notes. Dark brown color, frothy light tan head. Flavor definitely has that big American brown ale thing going, lots of hops, lots of rich and dark malts, lots of bitterness - Pete’s wicked ale (the original version) on steroids. Medium-full body, medium carbonation. REading other ratings, there is a split on this beer - some people like the dark malt-american hops combo, others don’t. I think it works pretty well here.

Pours a dark brown. Aroma is very hoppy. Flavor starts out with a very large hop kick and is then backed by a nice mildly roasted slightly nutty maltiness. I actually think the malt profile is superb but its hard to really get to behind the ever present hop curtain. This is a very good beer but I think it would be near perfect if the hops where toned down just a bit so that the malt could show through a bit more.

Sampled from a big ornate growler. Great big head. Settles beautifully. Thick and dense. Dark brown in color with hints of red along the edges. Great lacing. Roasted malts and fruity hops with a little spice. Light to medium bodied , roasted malts, nice bitterness from a generous helping of hops. A little chocolate in there also. Creamy, roasty and bitter finish. Decent.