Sierra Nevada Brown Ale

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

Another treat sponsored by the fine people at the “Papago” brewery, have never had the chance to sample SNBA, as it rarely makes it this far. Shame “ON YOU” Sierra Nevada! A transpicuous bruin color on the pour, the head pythonic in size, frothy in textures, light chocolate in color and the lace a fine covering sheet upon the glass. Nose is quite aromatic as the hops are up close and personal, sweet malt underpins this clean and fresh nose, start is thickly malt and somewhat sweet, top middling in feel. ZAP! The hops pop your palate like a jab from Mohammed Ali, crisply acidic, dry and a great beer as most all Sierra Nevada products tend to be, just irritates my colon, that its not more readily available in Arizona.

Draft at brewery: Deep brown with a reddish tint. Very creamy mouthfeel with nice body. Malts were chewy, chocolaty, roasty and woodsy, and they exuded with sweet grains, caramel and light toffee. Zingy East Kent Goldings rounded it out perfectly. The beer tasted like a master-crafted homebrew. Maybe I caught them on a good day, but I thought it was one of the best brown ales I’ve ever tasted. Special-release bottle: Still rather flavorful ... roasty and sweet with a healthy addition of hops (a little citrus and pine). Has a slight lactic sourness element. The brown ale is one of my least-liked styles, but this one is pretty darn good.

I dont like this style of beer, but I loved this beer, easily the benchmark for browns. The epitome of a well balanced beer....malty sweetness and notes of burnt stuff, countered perfectly with classic SN hops.

Sierra Nevada Brown Ale is a classic example a traditional brown ale from the UK. This is a fantastic example of brown ale with wonderful hop aromatics, bitterness, and a soft, sweet malty, slightly nutty palate. SN Brown Ale pours to a beautiful deep brown color with a creamy tan head, and a soft to moderate amount of carbonation. The nose on this beer is wonderful, with good flowery hop aroma, paired with some sweet and nutty malt aroma. The palate is soft with flavors of sweet malt, nuts, a nice back ground of ripe fruit flavors, and a touch of hop flavor. SN Brown finishes with more malty/nutty flavors up front, then ends with a dry, zesty, hop bite that lingers on the tongue.

They have this on draft at my local brew pub. I’ve never seen it in the bottle. Beautiful brew from on of my favorite brewerys.

I really enjoyed this beer. Pours a nice brown color with a thin white head. The taste is more American than British for a brown ale and that is to my liking. This is a great medium bodied ale.

Glowing dark coppery brown with a small dark ivory capping of firm foam. Nice lacing in patchy frost glues to the glass. Keeps a good skim of foam always present throughout the session. Pleasing aroma for a brown, one of the better noses, as most browns usually are pretty boring. This on the other hand is quite forward with a nice round bready tone with a soft browned roastyness, light brown sugar dusting, nuttiness, and some sweet vanilla. Taste is solid, quite rounded and slow at first, as it takes a bit for the flavors to emerge as the front is easy going with light breadyness. It picks up from there with lots of nice qualities as it comes into the finishing areas with a slight toasted/browned edge. Husks, lightly dried hops with a pinch of citrus dryness, and a slimming vanilla sweetness keep a nice balance as it grabs a bit more breadyness late. Feel is about medium, but more filling then most other browns as it seems to have bigger carbonation and bolder texture then some of the smoother, maltier browns. This has some nice weight to it. Nicely delicate finish with a feathery dryness floating. A solid brown by SN. One that you can have more then two of and still have interest to open up some more.

Comes out of the tap a clear mahogany brown with a thick, fluffy, fine-bubbled cream-colored head. Aroma is malty and spicy with just a hint of caramel. Flavor is malty and has a strong overtone of cinnamon, as well as a hint of yeast and touches of caramel and hops. Texture is very smooth and substantial, just a little tingly and quite satisfying.