“We never imagined that our English style 4.5% Brown Ale would win so many hearts! Classic flavours of caramel, chocolate, nuts and coffee are balanced by Australian hops, creating a rich reddish-brown coloured ale that loves pint glasses.”
Glassware: English Pint.
Appearance: Light cola pour with a deep burgundy hue when held to the light. Big and frothy three finger head which peels off with little lace to show for it.
Aroma: Conventional notes of sweet, toasty and biscuity malt with distinct nuttiness and milk chocolate in support. A very fine roastiness to it as well. Undertones of vanilla, cheap leather, dark fruits and iodine filling it out. That’s a very traditional brown ale aroma right there.
Flavour: As expected…driven by the toasty, nutty and biscuity malts with subtle hints of chocolate, dried fig, toffee and doughy brioche. There’s a very faint earthy roast before it kind of falls away in to a mild finish with semi-sweet nutty flavours on the rear.
Mouthfeel: Lean and slightly watery. A flat-ish CO2 certainly doesn’t help. Low ABV (4.5%). Not really what we’d call an exciting texture.
Overall: We’ll concede that the brewers are going for a traditional English brown ale so we’ll go easy. In our opinion it’s too thin and watery and lacking that rich sweetness we’ve come to expect from top shelf brown ales. It ain’t bad it’s just not going to be a return-to beer.