Sierra Nevada Brown Ale

Brewed by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale
Chico, California USA

Slightly woodsy and smoky aroma, flavors of tingly brown malt, grainy. Tastes brown sugary, but smokier. Strongly maintains carbonation. Very drinkable.

This is a nice brown with a dark, burnt bitterness like coffee and a pleasant sweetness in the aroma. It’s nice from start to finish.

Bottle at The Rake, Southwark, November 2006. No puke for me either, although I wouldn’t say this was a stellar experience. Looked a mid brown colour by the light of the patio heater. Toasty, Horlicks malt. Touches of hop. Maybe some nuts. Not really much of anything. A bit thin. Slightly metallic aftertaste. Distinctly average, but drinkable..

12oz bottle shared at the KnutAlbert meet up at The Rake, Borough Market. Brown/amber colour with beige head. Bit of bad malt on aroma, but some nice choc too. Choc milkshakey flavour, it’s very choccy and milky in fact. SN hops are there too. It’s ok and I didn’t pick up on the puke aroma as others did.

12 oz bottle from City Market in Burlington, VT (September 2006) sampled at cellar temperature from a Chouffe tulip. A lasting, stable off-white head tops the clear chestnut body and forms a bit of lace....hazelnut, vanilla, dry herbs (rosemary, mint) and lightly roasted malts in the fresh nose....body is dry and roasty, with little in the way of nutty or caramelly character, bit of light dried fruits and coffee....gets more and more bitter towards the finish, becoming really harsh and rather metallic and just not going down well at all. I’ve tried several bottles of this and had it on tap once as well and the results have all been the same: starts out promisingly but ends up pretty close to undrinkable. Shame, I’m still a big supporter of this brewery, but this is definitely their worst product since the Wheat.

Bottle. Clear dark chestnut colour with a medium off-white head. Malty aroma. Flavours are malty with a touch of honey and some nice bitter hops in the finish. Medium bodied, nice and drinkable.

Bottle at the Rake, London. Smells of vomit, the taste is slightly better, but this did not work very well. Grainy flavour, but the finish is not nice, either. Maybe this bottle was off?

Clearm filtered shiny brown and purple/caramel colored body. Hoppy, starchy, doughy crackers in the nose. Flavor is highly bitter, biting on the tongue, higher carbonation than needed, slick and a bit thin on the tongue, and almost lacking flavor throughout, though some crackers, wood, toast and dough comes through in the finish. Decent, but pretty far from traditional.