Howe Sound Rail Ale

Brewed by Howe Sound Inn and Brewing Co.
Style: Brown Ale
Squamish, Canada

Bought one of these the first time they came out, the unique one-litre resealable bottle format was intriguing and a good marketing ploy for the brewhouse. Smells all right and is significantly strong enough for a brown ale, lots of hops and barley on the nose, and a good sipping beer, but not very complex.

Convenient 1L bottle with swing top to reseal. Dark copper with a nice head. Aroma is kind of a mixed soup affair with some chocolate and bread notes and other curiosities. Flavour is dark malt with burnt nuts, chocolate and a hint of dark sugars.

pours a dark brown with a red tint, a large tan head, and good lacing. smell is of spice, brown sugar, a little roasted nuts, and malt. taste is of malt, spice, roasted nuts, and some maple syrup, ends a little dry and a little bitter.

Top marks for the one-litre swing-top (or as the brewery calls it, a "pot stopper") bottle. Pouring a tan, foamy head (perhaps two fingers worth) and producing some acceptable lacing, the "brown" colour was a luxurious dark copper. Aroma was chiefly of malt; I’m unable to detect any secondary scents here. The taste was of malt with a suggestion of the chocolate, and indeed there was also some licorice in play here. I like licorice most times, but not in my beer. However, mouthfeel was smooth and the aftertaste did not, mercifully, feature much if any licorice.

Pours a dark brown with a tan head that laces and retaind nicely. Aroma is very roasty. Chocolate, coffee, nuts, and a hint of boiled vegetable (seems to be their yeast). Tastes very roasty as well. There is chocolate, coffee, spice, malt and a bitter nutty finish. Mouth feel is decent. I like this, it is very sesionable.

Bottle. Pours a lovely dark brown, much darker than I was expecting, with a light tan head and excellent lacing. Nose is big, roasty, and coffeeish. Big roasted barley, nutty, and brewed coffee follow through on the palate. A bit simple, and really more a porter than a brown ale, this is good, but not great.

1 liter pop top bottle. Poured a clear dark brown color with ruddy highlights. The head was tan with an orange tint. Pleasant aroma of nuts, fig, and brown sugar. There was also a whiff of roasted malt. Medium bodied and slightly sweet with some delicate roastiness. I tasted brown sugar, nuts and a hint of toffee with a subdued coffee note. Good brown.

1 litre bottle with new artwork for 2009. Appearance: Rich, transparent mahogany colour with beige three finger head when poured into tall tankard, rapidly receding to a ring and a thin film of head that lasts for the whole glass. Heavy lace. Aroma: Nuts, hint of dark fruits, roasty malts. Taste: Lots of flavour in here. Nuts, dark and milk chocolate, coffee, vanilla, liquorice, very subtle dark fruits. It seems like every time you take a mouthful of this beer, there is something else you notice each time. Soft, smooth malty finish. You can’t get a better nut brown ale than this. I’ve tasted nuttier, more coffeeish, or more chocolatey; but this beer from Howe Sound has a ton of complexity. Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, easy to drink, slightly silky. Drinkability: Goes down very easily, it’s difficult to savour this because it just begs to be drunk. And at 5% abv, it’s very much a drink you can session. There is nothing wrong with this beer.