Ithaca Nut Brown

Brewed by Ithaca Beer Company
Style: Brown Ale
Ithaca, New York USA

Bottle. Pours a clear deep ruby-brown with an average size diminishing creamy tan head. Aroma of caramel malt with some roast, cocoa, fruit and nuts -- not bad, just a little bland. Flavour is malty with some faint cocoa and nuts -- decent flavour but it suffers from being watery. Medium bodied. For a Brown Ale (which is far from my favourite style) this is O.K., it’s not very exciting but there’s nothing bad about it.

Dark Brown color, very nice darker head. Strong flavor maltiness, robust, slight taste of hoppiness in a nice blend. Overpowered at first, but then grew to enjoy the blend and strong caramel, nutty, and coffee flavors. Good beer.

Dark brown in color with a long lasting creamy light brown head. Very pleasant sweet caramel/chocolate malt aroma set the tone for the rest of the tasting. It was very nice on the palate with its long lasting caramel, nutty, chocolate flavors.

(12 oz bottle: Obtained 09-Mar-06 in trade with jah noth, thanks Dan!) The first time I tried this beer, the aroma of soap and apple skins was unmistakeable, but I’ve had a lot of trouble with Ithaca bottled beers in general. But this bottle is healthy, so here we go. Nutty, roasty, chocolaty, mildly sweet yet dry on the palate, this is actually a pretty flavorful and very drinkable brown ale. Nuts and light roast jumps out in the nose, slight earthiness makes it more interesting for me. Medium-bodied with no loss of body toward the finish. Carbonation is light to moderate. Mahogany in color and fairly clear in appearance, the beer has a small, light-tan head that settles to a wide ring without leaving any lacing. Rarely do any beers in this category really excite me, and this beer falls in line with that generalization, but this above-average offering is fairly tasty and enjoyable.

From Bottle

Poured deep brown, with ruby highlights. Nice bubbly brown head. Aroma of malts, and caramel sweetness. Flavor very sweet, almost overpowering, but not quite, nutty, maltiness, caramel sweetness. Aftertaste of slight bitterness. Light bodied. Watery mouthfeel.

Brown with a tan head. Aroma of toffe and toasted nuts. Roasty, sweet flavor with a touch of coffee bitterness. Somewhat light bodied, but an easy to drink brown.

Finger Lakes Nut Brown Ale pours to a beautiful, bright, deep brown color with a thick and creamy white head, and a soft to moderate amount of carbonation. The nose on this beer is very inviting with lots of good sweet malt and nutty aromas. The palate is firm with good sweet malty and nutty flavor. Finger Lakes Nut Brown finishes with more good sweet and nutty flavors up front, then ends with some nice grassy hop bitterness to balance. A very well done Nut Brown Ale from a very local NY brewery. This beer is very much a British inspired Nut Brown Ale, and the Northdown and Fuggle hops in this beer are used just to balance out the maltiness of this beer. At 5% abv, it makes for a good session beer, and one you could enjoy a few of. This one works very well with a pub grub, and it worked very well with the BBQ I enjoyed at the Dinonsaur in Syracuse. This beer is not distributed outside its Central NY state location, so to enjoy this one, you will have to visit that part of NY where it can be found on draught and in bottles. If ever in Syracuse, try a pint or two at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.

Glowing chestnut maroon color with a tall light tan capping of frothy smoothed foam. Fades slowly to keep a great quarter inch skim the entire time and laces in thinnly placed inky patches. Aroma is nutty/toasty, crisply dry; pale, breadish malts, and has a light dry wild grassyness. Flavors are about what one would find out of a brown ale. Pale and toasted malts make up the main portions of the front and middle, slenderly sweet sided and well rounded nuttyness unsues into the finishing areas as does a light surge of drying grassy herbs and cocoa. Clean and respectfully subtle but a little understated. Feel is smoothly set within a light/medium body with a easy carbonation thats not boastful for a brown. Toastyness is light and paled, nuttyness is touched on with grace and finishes better then it starts. A welcomeing little brown ale. Drinkable and sessionable with an open margin to boredom due to its lack of depth and light flavors.