Michigan Brewing Nut Brown Ale

August 2009 Beer of the Month Club , 9/8/09

Aroma: Caramel, nutty, sweet malts, some funky/rotting fruit, and a bit of coffee, nose improves as it warms
Appearance: Dark Caramel/Brown color, thin, lasting off-white head
Flavor: I get bready, nutty, and caramel malts, and a sweetness that is similar to the funky fruit in the nose
Palate: Smooth, not too heavy, solid mouthfeel
Overall Impression: Granted the nose is a little weird, and this beer is really a little too sweet, but I liked the way it works. Nice fruity character, and an unexpected complexity make this one a truly interesting beer in my opinion. Nicely done, I’m surprised at the overall low rating.

A medium brown colored beer with a small tan head. Aroma is raisins and sweet chocolate. A malty flavor with dark fruit, cocoa, brown sugar, balancing hops, caramel, toffee, and nuts. A sweet and tasty little beer. Enjoyed.

12oz bottle 7/19/09 (Siciliano’s Market-Grand Rapids)-Pours an amber body with a small off white head. Aroma of roasted malt, coffee, chocolate, and nuts. Taste of malt, sweetness, chocolate, caramel, and nuts. This light to medium bodied brew is not too bad with it being pretty well balanced.

I’m bored and I don’t want to open up any of my really good sour browns... so I guess I’ll settle to do my regular brown ale tasting now. #1 of 5 in my Brown Ale tasting. 12oz bottle. Pours a clear and glowing but very dark brown, mahogany, slight red with a medium thin bubbly gray/tan sudsy froth. Aroma of roasted nuts, buttery, light acidity, glazed pecans. Flavor follows, aged caramel, rich and fairly dark but not burnt or super roasty, lightly perfumy and nutty, pecan pie, not sweet but more off-dry, a bit bready, faint toffee. Really nice slightly roasted pecan aftertaste. Medium bodied with a lighter mouth-feel, lots of softer but active soda carbonation, only a hint sticky but very light for a brown. A nice cross between a traditional brown and the American versions. Has just enough character.

Bottle from my buddy Steve. This right here is your classic North American tick. A translucent brown pour, not much body or carbonation to it. Aroma is almost completely anonymous, with generic bready malts. Just a trace of sweet nut flavor but something rather acrid washes it away in the finish. Blech.

Bottle. Pours a transparent and reddish brown with a couple of fingers of beige head. Aromas are decent enough: a mix of nuts, earth, caramel/toffee. Flavor is much better than expected given the ratings. A nice mix of the above aromas with a little bit of a thinness to it, but still, this is good.

Growler. Pours a clearer brown golden color with a thin white head. Aroma is caramel and sweet malts. Taste follows, very flavorful sweet malt and caramel flavors, finishes with a clean hoppy bite. Body is a little on the thin side.

Bottle (12oz). Clear, very deep ruby pour, average foamy/fizzy off-white head. Slightly burnt caramel aroma, dry, nutty, a hint of cola. The taste is quite sweet, root beer syrup, slightly floral, dry and spicy - seems a little "forced" somehow, and thin. Weak, still body, quick finish to the malt, a slightly sugary and toffeeish aftertaste. Ehhhhh - kind of thin and syrupy.