Smuttynose Really Old Brown Dog Ale (2008 and earlier)

Brewed by Smuttynose Brewing Company
Style: Old Ale
Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA

Bottle Conditioned in 2007

10/12/2007: Smuttynose Really Old Brown Dog Ale is golden brown to brown in color and is slightly hazy. The foamy beige head is creamy, dense, and stays put. The roasty aroma has notes of caramel and mellow hops. The flavor is malty along with some chocolate, dried fruits, nuts, toast, and caramel. There is some alcohol present and the finish is nicely balanced with a mild to moderate amount of bitterness. A spicy (light cinnammon?) and delicately bitter flavor lingers on the tastebuds and the strong maltiness fades away between tastes. The body of this beer is medium-full and has a good mouthfeel. This is a really solid Old Ale that is fairly complex and would probably improve more and more as it ages...

1 pint 6 fl ozs. bottle from porterhouse. Thank you Kevin! Rating #88 for this beer...

Poured an amber color with a medium sized, off white head that left light lacing on the glass. Aroma of caramel malts, vanilla, roast, toffee, nuts, toast, and light smoke. Taste of chocolate, caramel, raisins, maple, roast, toffee malts, light citrus, dried fruits, and a dry, lightly alcoholic finish.

2007....Smells like sweet malty yum!....medium brown with red hues...creamy body....a bit of sweet intermixed with deep malts....a bit nutty...slight bitterness on the finish

Poured a clouded chestnut brown, very thin head formation. Aroma is pleasantly fruity, raisins especally, sweet and malty, no discernable hops, but there is a slight nuttiness that lends itself well to this style. Flavor is malt forward, which is no surprise, but does have a nice slghtly spicy finish.

22oz from Markgugs - thanks! This one’s got about 6 or 8 months on it now, I think, and it’s tasting fine. I like the combination of a big hop profile with the heavier, richer elements one expects from an old ale. Not to say that it’s a resiny hop bomb, but there’s a definite spice and kick up front that’s balanced by the toffee malts and spice. Good stuff.

(22oz bottle) Sampled at the Post-Great Canadian Beer Festival 2007 in Victoria on September 8th, 2007. Courtesy of Presario. Alcoholic, caramel, maple syrup and iodine. Yellow head and deep orange body. Flavour of strong brown sugar, tart hops. Fruity and warming. Good.

22oz bottle Pours a red tinged brown with a one finger head that settles quickly to a spotty cap and ring. The foam is a bit thin and tattered, leaving behind just a little bit of lace. Smell; the aroma is a bit subdued, but there is a noticeable malt presence. Caramel and some cocoa are the dominant players, but there’s also a little bread dough and cinnamon. There’s a bit of a musty presence in there on top of it all. Taste; caramel, brown sugar, and bread dough are all present, bu there’s also an underlying spiciness that has some cinnamon and others that I can’t quite place. There’s no real hop presence here, it’s pretty much all about the malts, with just a little bit of alcohol in the finish. As this gets warmer it kind of reminds me a bit of a dopplebock. Mouthfeel is medium bodied and has a fairly low carbonation making this pretty smooth, and helps give this a good drinkability.

If I had my way, future civilizations will remember us chiefly by one image: a dog in a chair on a beach. The beer pours deep russet brown with a smallish off-white head. Malty aroma—raisin, fig, toffee—with a hint of alcohol. Lush flavor, almost like the first moments of a J.W. Lee’s Harvest. It all dies out too quickly, though, and the beer seems content to let us dream of all that might have been. The inappropriate lightness is made more glaring by overcarbonation. Potentially great, kinetically disappointing. Big improvement, however, as it warms and flattens.