McNeills Slop Bucket Double Brown

Formerly brewed at McNeills Brewery
Style: Brown Ale
Brattleboro, Vermont USA

On tap at McNeill’s. Nice malty roasted notes, bit of chocolate and a bit of smoke. Light caramel and fruity hoppiness. Dark medium brown clear with thin off-white lacing head. Medium bodied with light to mefium carbonation. Starts medium dry with some nutty bitterness and light roasted grainy malt. Medoum bitter finish, mild neutral fruits, and a bit of hoppiness. Overall, a nice brown ale, with a notable hop presence and some solid malt character.

Bottle. Nose-body odor, pine, industrial cleaner, something fake and/or plastic, light dust. Body-dark almandine with a medium ring of bubbles. Taste-lightly sour, medium malt vinegar, infection?, body odor, cardboard. Has a weird stale odor in an apple cider vinegar kind of way.

Muddy brown pour with minimal head. Aroma of caramel malt, big brown sugar, some nuts, figs, fruit. Tastes caramel malty, not sweet, with the figgy fruit, slight dark chocolate, and some hops.

(22oz. bottle) Pours a cloudy dark ruby with a medium-sized beige head. Aroma of pine, surgical gloves, medicinal, mustiness, dustiness, and caramel. Flavor of pine, malt, and brown sugar.

This is a great brown ale, I really enjoy the overall flavor. Definitely worth a try.

[bottle from the general store in Sharon, VT] Mega buttered popcorn diacetyl aroma. I like diaceytl in moderate amounts, but this is way over the top! A hint of US hops makes it through the butter. Hazy reddish brown with bubbly tan web that forms modest lacing. The diacetyl makes it into the flavour, but there’s some nice piney hops backed up by caramel and faint chocolate malt to overcome the dominating popcorn/butterscotch flavour. This would be awesome beer if they removed about 75% of the diacetyl. Medium body and moderate carbonation.

DL 06 parking lot: Poured a murky amber color. The aroma was kind of light. Mostly of toffee and malt. The malt seemed a little aged. Sweet toffee flavor again a little thin. Actually seems a little oxidized to me. Thin body and a semi-dry finish.

Sampled off of the picnic table at Dark Lord Day - brown ale? not really tasty? you bet - quite dry and herbal, yet slightly cocoa-like, too - abundant hops, and a kind of orange/cranberry jam thing going on - one of the more unique beers of the day.