Grizzly Paw Bighead Nutbrown

Brewed by Grizzly Paw Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale
Canmore, Canada

Covered in mud, stinking and nearly comatose, I sat at my table at the Grizzly Paw Pub gorging myself on an unearthly ammount of poutine and then my beer appeared. Super dark brown in colour, it had a small sized light tan head that left nice permanent lacing throughout the first half. The aroma was fresh with dark but sweet malts and not too much more - needed more smell forsure. Then again, I smelt like dead people, so maybe I was nullifying the aroma. Taste consisted of plently of lightly roasted malts, a small ammount of weak, spicy bitter hops, yeast and more malts. Beer was really smooth with a slight bitter dry finish. Highly drinkable in large quantities.

Draught at the brewpub
Mahogany color. Another poor beer after the Pilsner, Red, Wheat and Amber: just some dry caramel flavor. Useless.

Draft at brewpub. Pours a nice deep red colour, small tenacious tan head. Caramel/tofee malt nose. Flavour has decent malts, nutty, a touch of raost and toffee. Aftertaste is nutty with some roast, a little hop presence in the finish.

On tap at Grizzy Paw. Poured a deep reddish/cola brown with a short dusting of beige head. Nose was nutty with coffee and some herbs... rather light, but well-done. Very nice coffee base to the flavor supported by nutty notes and herbal bitterness at the edges. Lighter-bodied and smooth on the palate... bitterness lower and well-done.

I tried this as part of an 8 beer tasting tray at the pub. The tasting tray is an excellent value, featuring Big Head brown, Grumpy Bear Wheat, Powder Hound pilsener, Rutting Elk red, Beavertail Raspberry, Randy Goat pilsener, and two seasonal brews that are new: Bloody Hell Pale Ale and Burrowing Badger Summer Ale. This one was a dark brown with a modest tan head. Wood chip smokiness dominates the aroma, and carries over to the palate, which is also slightly nutty and generously hopped to give a nice bitter finish. A surprising combination, but very good, and more complex than the other brown ales I’ve tried.

Dark brown with no head. Mild aroma of hops. Farily bitter with a medium body. Finishes sweet.

Deep chestnut brown appearance. Tiny light brown head doesn’t last. Weak malt aroma (soil, coffee machine - yes, the machine with the old watery coffee trace, but not actual coffee). Rather hoppy in the genre, almost grapefruity/orangey, very leafy and definitely mineralic. Not too pleasant and poorly balanced.

Grapefruit pulp hop aroma toppling the maltiness inherent to the style...Earthiness and minerals converge around a green hop bitterness and manage to embolden some almond sweetness...Would need a lot more malt to balance out those heavy Cs...