Great Lakes Cleveland Brown Ale

Brewed by Great Lakes Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale
Cleveland, Ohio USA

C-Bus 9 shared by butters: Bottle: Pours a clear reddish brown in color with a white head. Aroma, caramel, brown sugar, and a little nutty. Flavor, light caramel, brown sugar, body was a little on the thin side. But overall after being named after something so putrid, it turns out alright.

22oz bottle purchased from the brewery - Pours a crystal clear light brown/amber color with small off white head. Aroma has chewy malts, light caramel, notes of honey, vanilla, raisens, slightly creamy. Flavor with lots of light caramel, note of honey, cherry, oak, with a fairly sweet finish. A good brew, nothing amazing but solid - a bit too sweet for my tastes, would have liked a bit more bitterness to balance.

Brown pour, small white head. Aroma is nutty and roasty. Flavor is caramel, and light roasted malts with a toasted touch. Sweet and nutty but with light dark malts to balance it. Not bad but nothing exciting.

On tap @ the brew pub 9/19/07, served in a shaker pint glass: Coppery brown, clear, w/ a light beige lasting medium sized head. Very light roasted barley note w/ strong toasty and bready a subdued caramel and light floral hop aroma. Very balanced aroma, malty and very pleasing. Flavor is well balanced overall! Caramel, bready, toasted malts, clean, not terribly estery, and hints of roasted barley in the flavor. Vague earthy hop in the semi dry finish, malty aftertaste. Ligher medium carbonation, medium body, smooth m/f. Overall a very palate pleasing, easy drinking beer. Could be a session beer if not for the 6% ABV. Definitely malty, but well balanced all around w/ great malt complexity. No offfense to Great Lakes, a really highly enjoyable beer, but maybe not worth 10.00/ bomber.

I love the Fall, it has to be one of my favorite times of the year, and football season is a big part of that. And what goes better with watching football than a good beer? Nothing in my opinion, beer and football go hand and hand. The good people of Cleveland Ohio are truly blessed. While their football team may not be so hot these days, the city of Cleveland does have a brown they can be proud of. That brown would be Cleveland Brown Ale, from the Great Lakes Brewing Company. This is a delicious, malty, nutty, hoppy brown ale. This would be an American brown ale by style vrs a tradition British one such as New Castle. American brown ales have a more assertive hop character in flavor and aroma, and have a bit more roast than their British inspirations. Cleveland Brown Ale pours to a deep brown chestnut color with a nice white head, and a soft carbonation. The nose has some nice nutty malt aromas, a touch of roast, and really fragrant, piney, citric hop aromatics. The palate starts with a bit of sweet malt flavor and a touch of fruit, then leads into some nice nuttiness, and a little roast. This beer finishes with more sweet and nutty malt character, then explodes into a long, dry, citric, bitter, hop bite. Really a well done beer, and flavorful beer. Plenty of good malt and hop character in this beer. Cleveland Browns fans, don’t despair, here is one brown that will always score a touch down!!

On Tap @ GLBC. I’d never had this before, and since it was a pub exclusive only, I figured I’d give it a whirl. Served to me in the much hated shaker glass, it was a dark brown, yet still very clear color, with a slightly tannish head that went away quick. Probably would have lasted longer, except the schlub who poured it served it out of a pitcher instead of from the tap - not sure what that was all about. Anyway, not much of an aroma except for a slightly sickly sweet smell. Goes down very smooth - I’d say that this was almost flat if you ask me. The taste leaves much to be desired - basically a very very overly sweet taste that by the midpoint in the glass, I was sick of it. This only became more apparent as the beer warmed. The last 1/4 of the glass was more or less undrinkable, but I threw it down anyway. Overall, a very disappointing beer.

This is a fabulous beer. It is darker in color than most brown ales, with a nice lasting tan head. The aroma shouts roasted malts, and alot of malt. But the flavor has more hops than expected. The malt is very smooth, and may have some coffee involved. The aftertaste is very sharp but not bitter. This is a great fall time beer.

Oooh. Malty. I had this one when I worked at a local grocery in high school (shh! don’t tell) and again more recently. My palate’s been developed since then so I appreciate the brew more, but that only goes so far. OK, but nothing special.