Day 79 (10/11/2011): Wynona's Big Brown Ale by Voodoo Brewing Company

I'm not a fan of brown ales. I just can't get into them. My favorite is probably Sierra Nevada's Tumbler, mostly because the roastiness of it is more subdued than most.

Wynona's Brown Ale is not subdued in any manner. It is roasty, boozy, and well-hopped. It is certainly not your English grandfather's brown ale. That is for sure. The smell is roasted malts, a nuttiness, and caramel, with a slight whiff of hops. The hops hit your palette first, bittering things out before is fades into a sweet, nutty malt finish. There isn't a ton of complexity in the flavor. I was hoping for a little coffee or chocolate, but if it's there, it's subtle. The carbonation is about right: just under medium, with a tad bit too thin of a body. The alcohol is somewhat present with a little burn, but it's not bad.

For a brown ale, this isn't bad. There's still a ton of beers I would drink first (including Tumbler), but I was able to finish the whole bomber, so it can't be that bad, right? I give Wynona's Big Brown Ale by Voodoo Brewing Company a B.

Style:: American brown ale
Beer Advocate: B+
Ratebeer: 91/96

Day 57 (9/19/2011): Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

Context: Terrible headache at work only made worse by a day in front of the computer that was interrupted once. That interruption happened to be a fire alarm. This would have been nice if it wasn't raining outside. I then capped it off by stopping at Kroger on the way home, which of course was packed with screaming children, all of whom seemed to be pushing their parents grocery carts. Absolute chaos. So yeah, I was ready for a beer.

Beer: I had been meaning to pick up some of the classic Sierra Nevada brews and finally grabbed a single of their brown ale, porter, and stout. Though they seem to be making money hand over fist, Sierra Nevada only gets credit for breaking craft beer drinkers in via their signature pale ale. They don't get a ton of credit for their other beers, all of which that I have tried have been both delicious and absolutely true to the style. With how crappy the weather was today, I felt an Autumn-centric brown ale was appropriate.

Sierra Nevada nailed this one. I don't particularly care for brown ales, but this is probably the best one I've had. You get a slight breadiness, malt sweetness, and just the smallest amount of roast in the nose. The taste has the same bread like malts, some nuttiness, and the sweetness is countered by some roast and just the tiniest bit of hops. The carbonation is medium low and the body is about medium. This is a fall bonfire beer if I've ever drank one. Outstanding. If I liked brown ales more I'd rate it higher, but even now, I'll give Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. an A-.

Here's to a better, less headachy day tomorrow!

Style: American Brown Ale
Beer Advocate: B+/A-
Ratebeer: 92/96

Day 14 (8/7/2011): Indian Brown Ale by Dogfish Head

(Sorry folks; no pictures today. Got too preoccupied and drank the bottle without snapping a shot!)

When you get a Dogfish Head beer, you can pretty much guarantee you're not going to get a traditional, beer following typical style qualities. Though sometimes this is a disaster, often it leads to a great beer that you never would have thought was possible. If nothing else, you certainly can't say they lack innovation or ingenuity. Dogfish Head's Indian Brown Ale shows this innovative approach, but does it lead to a good beer?

This brown ale pours very, very dark; almost black. You get a couple fingers of sand-colored head, which dissipates quickly. The smell is of espresso, a nice roastiness, caramel sweetness, and a slight hint of hops. It should be noted that this bottle was three months old, so the hops may have faded some during that time. The smell isn't much different than most other brown ales I've tried before, other than the bit of hops.

The taste is delicious. Definitely more of a fall/winter beer than a 90+ degree day beer, but delicious nonetheless. The roasted malts is the first thing you taste, followed by a bit of coffee and chocolate. There is a malty sweetness that is perfectly balanced by an undertone of floral hops. The fact that this beer manages to stay balanced despite the plethora of flavors is astounding. There is a lot going on here, but it never seems unmanaged or overwhelming.

The mouthfeel is pretty full and robust with carbonation a bit higher than usual for a brown ale, but it is a Dogfish Head beer, after all. The body never seems thick or syrupy, but 'thin' would never enter your mind when you're drinking it.

This is a great beer. I have no idea how I haven't tried this before, especially considering how widely available it is. It's tasty, pretty affordable, and at 7%, both sessionable or a night-ender, depending on your motives and pace. I can't wait to drink this guy more once the weather cools down. I give Indian Brown Ale by Dogfish Head an A-.

Style: American Brown Ale
ABV: 7.2%
IBU: 50
Beer Advocate: A-/A
Ratebeer: 98/99

Purchased from Party Source for $2.05 a single. Six packs are also available for just over $10. This is a pretty commonly year-round brew, so you should have no problem buying it if you can get any other Dogfish Head beers.

Day 1 (7/25/2011): Palo Santo Marron by Dogfish Head

So, after a relatively false start, a trip out of town for a wedding, followed by nasty cold, I'm finally ready to get this show on the road. I still have the sniffles, but I don't think they'll greatly affect my ability to taste beer.

As some of you know, I recently got married AND bought a house. Why not take care of all the big stuff in one month, right? Anyways, yesterday evening's bit of backbreaking manual labor was tearing down an old compost bin and bagging all of the compost to be hauled away. This would theoretically be a simple task, but whatever Einstein built the bin constructed the walls out of wood lattice. This is roughly the equivalent of building a dam out of attached screen doors; it just doesn't work. What this means is that roughly half of the compost is no longer in the bin, but has slowly eroded and is now surrounding it. Fun!

The purpose of that story is to get across that after an hour or so of that nonsense in 90+ degree heat, I was ready for a beer. After a shower, I opened the fridge and gave the selection a look over. Any reasonable person would, of course, pick something crisp and refreshing like a hefeweizen or IPA (both of which I have in my fridge). What grabbed my eye, of all things, was a brown ale. And not just a brown ale, but one that is 12% abv. Sometimes I wonder about those hamsters running on their wheels making my brain work.

I popped the bottle, poured it into one of my favorite tulip glasses and simultaneously saw and smelled that I was not dealing with your average brown ale. I suppose I should have expected that from a Dogfish Head beer and one which is 12% and has been aged on wood.

It pours a dark, dark brown bordering on black, with about a half inch of tan-brown head.The wood aging is immediately evident in the smell, but after that, in descending order, the scent is booze, roasted malts, dark fruit, and a bit of vanilla. The booze is right up front there with the wood, though, and dominates pretty much everything else.

The same is true of the taste. The primary thing here is the 12% abv, with the wood, roastiness, coffee, and raisins/dates taking a back seat. It has a good amount of sweetness to it, but finishes with some hop bitterness. The 50 IBU is there, but not too pronounced. In terms of body and carbonation, I'd say it is roughly medium for both. It drinks more like a thin imperial stout than a brown ale.

Overall, I thought this beer was a boozy, hot mess. I probably wouldn't even consider it a brown ale; it's better thrown into the catch all category of  American strong ale. At the 12% showing considerably, it definitely is a candidate for cellaring. Hold onto a bottle of this for a few years and my guess is that the flavors would even out and the alcohol in it would cool down a bit. If you want to try it fresh, though, consider it a sipper and let it warm a bit before you dig in. The flavors became quite a bit more complex as it warmed.

I would like to try this cellared, but fresh I give Palo Santo Marron by Dogfish Head a B-. The booziness just overwhelms anything else good it has going for it.


Style: American Brown Ale
ABV: 12%
IBU: 50
Beer Advocate: A-
Ratebeer: 99/98

Purchased from Party Town (Florence) for $4'ish a bottle. Pretty readily available where Dogfish Head is distributed.