Sierra Nevada Brown Ale

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

Bottle: transparent brown color with a frothy tan head. Nice malt flavors with hints of hops, grains, some nuttiness, and a bit of toffee. The depth of the flavor is medium, the finish is smooth and mild.

Dark brown/amber topped by a thick, frothy, off white head. Flavor and aroma of toasty caramel malt, bicuits, grains, earth, and some bitterness. All elements have the volume turned down. Medium, balanced body. Nothing special.

Typical brown ale aromas… sweet, chocolaty, and nutty. Flavor is not so typical, since its from the hop house that is Sierra Nevada. The milk chocolate and nutty qualities are there, but they are outweighed by SN’s generous hop load. Its different, interesting, and hoppy. No problem here. Decent buy at $6.49 for a sixpack at Total Wine.

The aroma starts slightly sharp on the nose..not quite metallic, but knocking on the door. Sweet malts follow and hints of chocolate and toffee linger fleetingly. The body is a burnt dark amber and supports a diminsihing two finger thick tan head that leaves layers of lace on the glass like seafoam clinging to a seawall on a blustery day. The fore is not quite rich, but it’s doing better than middle class. Slightly toasted and sweet malts play through the middle hinting at chocolate, but more closely approximating cocoa and caramel. There is a very faint tartness through all flavor ranges, but almost no bitterness. It’s a very well realized brown ale with an appropriate flavor profile and mouthfeel.

As far as the brown/amber category goes this one is not so bad. Nice hops that give it more character than what I am used to with the style.

Full beige head, transluscent amber brown color. Aroma is toasty grain and quite yeasty. Taste has a slightly sweet caramel to it, notes of spicy hops, and a slight roast on the finish, overall taste improved as it warmed. Mouthfeel is medium with an appropriate level of co2 in my opinion. While this was good, I dont think I would buy it again if the pale ale was available, and I certainly would not buy this again once celebration comes out.

This beer is the most wonderful surprise I have found in a while. So balanced, malty and beautiful frankly not what I would expect from a hop house like Sierra Nevada. Truly English, drinkable balanced with hints of grain, chocolate and toffee this beer goes down easy and leave little to be desired. Wonderful beer from a world class brewery!

2006 Bottled (inagural) Edition. Nice Brew! Poured chocolate brown with nice fluffy head. Good carbonation. Not much lacing, but not too bad. Nose was slight malt and alcohol. Foretaste had notes of chocolate and toasted malt with a nice hop finish with some evident malt. This is a good brew worth having; and as long as it’s available, I’ll keelp having it. Especially when I get it at Winco for 4.99 a sixer.