Lion Brewery English Ale

Brewed by Lion Brewery and Restaurant
Style: Brown Ale
Waterloo, Canada

Draught at the brewpub. Pours a deep amber with a spare creamy tan head. Aroma’s sweet, a bit sour and lightly roasty. Watery flavour is also a bit sour (is it off?), lightly roasted and with some fruit. Average bodied. Just passable.

Draught. At the brewpub. This is on tap, so it can’t be OLD, but ... read on. Deep clear mahogany pour, with a smallish creamy beige head (4-). Oddly sour caramel malt/grain aroma, a touch herbal, even a hint of dry cocoa. Taste - weirdly sour, grapeseed, dry oak and lemon juice sour, a bit like those oxidized old Gales corked bottles - but this is TAP; some coffee ground acidity and green herbal (almost mint) bitterness under the unpleasant sourness. Average-bodied, astringent/acidic mouthfeel, very weakly carbonated, with a thin, dry lemon-sour aftertaste - it wasn’t horrid, but I think without the dry tartness it might be solid. (not boozy at all, but also, not very roasty either).

Pint at he brewpub. Dark brown, small white head. Mild aroma (as most were here) - some toasty malt, some roast. Taste is nice - lots of solid roast and malt, good light to medium body, very easy to drink. Not complex but a nicely done. A solid brown ale.

Served in a chilled mug at the brewpub so the aroma may be skewed. This beer was delicious! I don’t know if it was because I drank it after a long day on the golf course, but this beer is my current favorite.

on tap at the brewpub. 2nd pint o’ the night. served copper with a small off white head. some roastiness to the aromas and flavours of this one. english malts were the only thing to stick out. a touch thin but hella drinkable. improved as it warmed.<P> ive had a few more pints of this one and i grossly underrated it the first time. a very nice ale.

Deep mahogony/brown with a good finger of mocha foam. Smokey toast aroma with some caramel and fruit. Flavour is slight roasted coffee bean, some sweet fruit, roasted malt, and some liquid smoke. Creamy and easy drinking. One of the better from their lineup.

[356-20070623] Tap @ Barley Works (Waterloo, ON). Roasty malty aroma has caramel background. Clear, dark brown red body with a medium-lasting foamy light tan head. Sweet and lightly meaty flavour has toasty roasty smokey malt notes. Medium body has nice smoothness. Refreshing! Really enjoyable, one of their better brews. (8/4/8/3/16) 3.9

[1092C-20080211] Tap @ Lion brewpub (Waterloo, ON). Grainy bread aroma has a bit of sweet malt. Clear, dark amber brown body with a medium-lasting creamy off-white head. Sour yeasty grains flavour has a long aftertaste. Medium body. Really interesting texture. (7/4/7/3/15) 3.6

Another of the reformulated brews by this brewer: Tapped a nice chestnut brown with a 1 finger frothy cap that lasted and laced. Aromas of caramel malts and nuts with a light wisp of hay. Medium bodied, fair malt spine, buttery mouth feel, mellow rounded nutty character. Starts bready-caramel-nutty then this is joined with some light bittering from Kents and and the addition of some fruity esters from the ale yeast....finished mellow and clean with the bready-nutty tastes prevailing. A nice pint of brown ....and when fresh, not much in a can or bottle beats it .