Three Needs Brown Ale

Light chalky bitter tang to the nose - wet canvas. Almost no sweet malt character though some mild chocolate. Dark brown-red clear with thin light tan head. Mild watery body with mild carbonation. Starts with mild sweet chocolate coffee notes. Mild tang, carbonic almost, with roasted malt finish. Very little bitterness anywhere, and pretty watery overall. Mild nutty after. It just doesn’t come together.

Fruity esters and subtle dark malts in the aroma. Dark brown though not opaque with some amber highlights. Shy, off-white, fully-diminishing head. Caramel malts and earthy hops with dark malts creeping in to the finish. Medium body with low carbonation and watery texture. If this was intended to be an American brown ale, I’d expect more hop character, if British, I’d expect it to be more round and malty. On tap at the brewpub with MartinT, muzzlehatch and Rastacouere.

Oily, nutty roastiness dominates the thin and slick body...Quite fruity (prunes, raisins) and sweet, but ultimately watery...Another okay effort which disappoints by its weak feel and overall blandness...

Diminishing head covers a chestnut body. Vanilla nose, quite nutty. Clean and light taste, getting surprisingly bitter toward the finish, but overall feeling wet above anything else.

On tap at the brewpub. Having just been knocked out by the Chocolate Thunder Porter, my expectations for this were higher than they otherwise would have beeen. Sadly, hope was dashed as soon as I saw the pint: this thin-looking, reddish, no-head substance is a Brown Ale? This too-hoppy, thin-bodied, only-slightly-malty-when-warm concoction belongs to the same family as Sam Smith’s Nutbrown Ale? Hazelnuts? Caramel malt? Rich, creamy texture? Not here folks. Now, back to that Porter...