Heavyweight Dougs Colonial Ale

Formerly brewed at Heavyweight Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale
Ocean Township, New Jersey USA

750ml Bottle: Sweet aroma. Smells of chocolate, cream, coffee, and toasting. Poured copper/caramel in color with a huge, foamy, beige head that lasted throughout. Clear. Lots of large particles. Sparkling. Medium sweet, lightly bitter flavor. Tastes of coffee, chocolate, sprite, piney hops, sugar, and cream. Medium body. Fizzy texture. Lively carbonation. Sweet chocolate and coffee finish. Over carbonated.

750ml from zathrus13 - thanks, Jeff! Wow, this is one mighty gusher. It took an effort of many minutes to get this thing settled down, and then only after some spillage. But the massive carbonation lets the aroma breathe nicely as those dregs drop onto the billowing head like cinnamon atop cappucino foam. So yeah, I reckon this is a brown ale, but it’s very complex, with loads of caramel, brown sugar, and a noticeable aroma of smoke in there to give it a quirky aftertaste that I enjoyed quite a bit. Lively hops keep it from being too sticky also. I really enjoyed this.

25.4 oz bottle. Impossible to pour without creating a huge head atop dark topaz. Settles to a light crema. Unfolding nose of woody molasses cookies, a touch of smoke and Baker’s chocolate. Almost fizzy carb adds to a hard cider tang for a lively start. Amidst the bubbles hints of espresso, ginger and ash. Tastes like a Brown, drinks like a Saison.

27-May-07 (750 ml bottle: Obtained 22-Jun-06 in trade with Eyedrinkale, thanks Mike!) A little slow oozing of foam when I opened the bottle and very heady pour prompts some cause for concern but a cursory, casual sniff of roasted malt and sweet chocolate quickly diverted my attention. But as I let the foam die down, upon closer inspection, the nose reveals significant yeastiness to go along with the dry-roasted malt and emerging aromas of ground coffee and nuts. The chocolate seems to have slipped below the radar, and there is certainly no impression of sweetness, which is confirmed when taking a few sips. Medium roasting is at the forefront, and it’s moderately bitter, dry and coffee-like. Yeastiness is quite evident early, but is pushed aside by the now-dominant coffee and roasted nut notes, and a fairly spicy undercurrent adds a pleasant zing in the finish. Excessive carbonation and prickly, expansive mouthfeel leads to cheek puffing, bloating and a litany of loud belches. Very dry on the palate, medium to medium-full in body, and round, creamy mouthfeel. Amber-brown in color, very hazy from bottle sediment, with all pours resulting in a tall, bubbly, light-tan layer of foam that never settles below a quarter-inch. The head is too bubbly to leave any lacing on the glass. Overall, a very fine brown ale, packed with atypical flavors, fairly complex for a usually simple and uninspiring style.

750mL bottle from Dorwart, drunk on 9/30/07 at about 18 months of age.
I’d love to know the story behind the brewing of this beer, as there’s a lot more in here than just a caramel and chocolate malted brown ale. For starters, there’s the question of the yeast. The beer tastes borderline Belgian. No doubt this could be attributed to a bottling line infection, but as far as I know, those always end up causing massive diacetyl bombs, and this had no diacetyl to speak of. More likely it was brewed with house yeast and some other type of adjuncts were introduced, lending a light amount of wild yeast, accounting for the very dry esters and light clove and pepper-like phenols.
The beer has continued to attenuate, as the carbonation built up quite heavily in my bottle, gushing out lightly upon opening. The flavor was very, very attenuated, not overly so, IMHO, but to the point that you know it wasn’t this dry when fresh. Still, the dryness and light "Belgian" nature combine to make a very drinkable beer that incorporates flavor and aroma profiles you rarely come across in Belgian styles. A very interesting graininess, honey, maple, apples and green raisins, with light caramel lingering and bits of roast lingering. After allowing it to warm and breath, it drinks down nicely, but the esters do give it a slight vaporous quality and there is some fusel-like activity on the finish. Intentional or not, I like the unique character of the beer and enjoyed drinking it.

RBSG 07 Minneapolis Grand Tasting: Nice caramel color, nice head and light lacing. Nose of dust and caramel, some toasty popcorn and rich tar. Chemically astringent dark ale with an odd malty finish. Ok.

Hugely fizzy cloudy bright medium brown pour that glows a bit and hesitates to offer reddish tinges. The head is constantly fed by the vigorous carbonation and stays there forever. Quite rich nose with belgianesque yeastiness. Under the caramel maltiness lie a bed of raisins, plums, bananas, powdered chocolate and nuts. Quite attenuated and gently sour though it does not feel like an infection. You would not expect that acidity from the nose, but you easily accept it and feel some vague coherence with the nutty and fruity constant flavours. Rather dry in mouth. Fun. I would certainly have guessed this brew to clock more than 5.5%. It is quite complex and very interesting.

Date: 08/02/2006
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting

slow gusher, slightly hazy brown, huge creamy head, nice lace, big dry chocolate aroma, rich chocolate flavor, very dry, hop bitterness is pronounced because of the dryness,

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 2.9/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: *4