Landmark Vanilla Bean Brown Ale

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

Bottle. Deep brown in color with a large tan head. Vanilla aroma. Mild vanilla flavor with some nuttiness. Some roasted malts with a bitter ending.

12 oz bottle. Pours a deep amber brown and a foamy overcarbed head- with little lace. Aroma is cardboardy oxidized, light stale vanilla hints, light toast and dry nuttyness, salty stale crackers, ligth olive brine, and slight infection. Carbonation explodes in mouth- infection- toffee, ash, vanilla, light roast and nuttiness, stale oxidized malts, marshmallow, and a leathery earthy note in the end. Finish is a bit abrupt and slick. meh

A Sim rate (bottle from Whole Foods Bowery): Smells unpleasantly bland. Maybe it’s that slightly metallic aroma you get from a mass-produced lager. Not really sure. But it’s certainly not vanilla. No sweetness at all. Flavour is a bit better, but not much. It’s bitter toffee, citric acid and a tinge of sweet roast. You really have to work to taste the flavours. Palate is carb and stings a bit. Not sure I like that feeling. Overall, it’s a bit of a letdown... especially for something with "vanilla" in the name. Mediocre at best.

12oz. bottle. When I saw this on the shelves at Premier I was very excited, but after downing the pint I left rather disappointed. This beer poured a rich dark brown and produced a minimal /4 inch light tan head. The aroma is slightly sweet, roasted, and chard. There is no real flavor in this brew; definitely no vanilla. There is some earthiness and malts, but not much else. Overall, it is bland and very thin on substance.

12 ounce bottle from Beers of the World in Rochester, NY (June 2007), served from a Chouffe tulip at cellar temperature. A gigantic smooth tan large-bubbled head spews forth, filling 9/10 of the glass and me with dread (infection?); as it dies the glass is left smooth, and a hazy molasses liquid is revealed.....the aroma isn’t problematic, at least, although it is quite weak: vanilla and nuts, no surprise, but pretty low-dosage; perhaps a bit grapy as it warms up....dull, light, faintly chocolaty, grapy and a touch sour in the body, hints of rather old, not quite rancid nuts, no vanilla really, malts are barely in evidence....fruity, stale finish and milky, undercarbonated mouthfeel. umm, no.

Bottle from Frylock, thanks. Brown/tan head. Nose is rootbeer, ming. Flavor is rootbeer, milk, vanilla. Slightly tart finish that reminds me of burps after drinking store brand diet rootbeer.

On cask at Clark’s Ale House. Way too sweet, although a touch stouty. A medium mouthfeel brown freshly tapped at Kelly Cole’s Improper, with the Landmark rep. A claim that it’s pure vanilla, it could be. First sample off the tap was sour, so we will ignore that. A bit milky at first and then carmel body and full carbonation felt in the finish.

Slight hazelnut coffee aroma drifts atop a frothy off-white head. Deep crimson/brown in color. Tastes like rootbeer or cream soda. Some vanilla flavor sits atop this caramel brown ale. Slight astringency at the finish.