Landmark Vanilla Bean Brown Ale

Brewed by Flying Bison Brewing
Style: Brown Ale
Buffalo, New York USA

12oz bottle (thanks to my wife for brining this back from Buffalo for me!). She picked this up at the Flying Bision Brewery (maybe they are now contract brewing it vs. Wagner Valley?). Poured a medium reddish / brownish color with a small sized off white head. Aromas of burnt malts, earthy, some caramel, and light vanilla. Tastes of vanilla soda, caramel, and a little nutty.

Tap at the Blind Tiger. The vanilla in this was unmistakable, however the beer offered little else of interest. A decent body with a bit of sweet, nutty malts present, and a slight hint of cocoa and hops in the aroma. The vanilla was a bit too strong to keep this easy drinking, and it had a harsh carbonation in tow.

Draft at BT. Pours a ruby brown body with a tan head. Immediate chocolate, lightly toasty, the vanilla seems drown out a bit. Kinda reminiscent of a root beer float. Sweet unattenuated sugars, very light on your palate. Not great.

A really sweet beer with the definite immediate taste of vanilla but it does have a somewhat bitter aftertaste. Really not much of a head when poured out of the bottle. a really nice brown color but not murky. All in all, not a bad brew

This would be a boring brown ale if it wasn’t for the vanilla. A little bland and soapy tasting, but notes of chocolate and vanilla and some nuts.

Tap at Spuyten Duyvil: Pours deep brown with ruby at the edges topped by a tan head. This stuff is weird. The aroma is very enticing with a unique yet distinct vanilla bean quality as well as coffee & truffle. The flavor upfront is roasty with hints of peat and toasty vanilla bean; with a coffeeish middle. The later flavors are out of balance and a bit vinegar like. Everything in there seems to be extract-like; nothing is natural about it. This stuff was close to being ok.

A nice coffee bean aroma rises from this beer, with a hint of vanilla in the back. Rather sweet smelling, feels like something from a specialty coffee shop. Very pleasant. A very deep dark red colored beer that almost looks totally black until you hold it up to the light, and discover its hidden legs of carbonation in a dark red background. The carbonation is just enough to maintain a half-centimeter head of sandy brown colored bubbles. The acidity from the coffee-like flavours kicks off the tasting, and the vanilla flavours pour in following very closely behind. The beer then trails off to a lactic, almost creamer-like vanilla pudding. The end is lost in the vanilla, and cuts off too short. The mouth is acidic, and tends to burn the stomach if you havent eaten before drinking this. Espresso bean bitterness lasts through an oily finish. A rather simple, yet pleasing package of creamy vanilla coffee. This is more desert then brown ale. The flavours tend to become a little annoying.

12oz bottle, generously shipped to me (as an accidentally left-behind extra from our in-person trade at Cooperstown) courtesy of beastiefan2k. Thanks, Eugene! Pours a dark, hazy brown color; enormous, seriously huge light-tan head with great retention and lacing; looked like coffee ice cream atop a brown ale; infected from the get-go, with that kind of carbonation. But..onward! Lots of tart citrus, cola, and cocoa in the aroma; most definitely some infection, but I’ve an awful suspicion (from the previous ratings) that this might be something of an improvement; nothing offensive or off-putting or rough, just nice tart citrus melded to cocoa notes. Medium, fizzy mouthfeel: way over-carbonated, but at least it isn’t small-bubbled sharpness; fizzy, soft cola, cocoa, and citrus, with a very soft note of vanilla (hard to tell if it’s legitimate or syrup, just because it’s so slight compared to the citrus and the cola); slightest touch of chalkiness from the cola note, but otherwise a fairly drinkable, lightly soured brown ale. Not nearly as bad as Eugene and I were hoping for, sadly. Medium finish: citrus, cocoa, and lots of toasty bready notes.