“Rogue is famous for their Hazelnut Brown Nectar and one of Nomad’s favourite native ingredients is wattleseed for its nutty taste. So bring these brewers together and it had to be a wattleseed brown ale. With a mix of Australian and NZ malts the result is a medium bodied brown ale with gentle sweetness from the malts and a nuttiness from the wattleseed.”

Glassware: English Pint.

Appearance: Deep chestnut with faint ruby red hues. It forms a loosely packed head, a finger and a half in height, which collapsed pretty quickly. Scarce lace as we go.

Aroma: Not really picking much up other than uber conventional Brown Ale qualities – nutty malt, toast, milk chocolate and dark fruits. A bit metallic…gives off that blood-like note. Hints of cherry begin to open up as it settles. The wattleseed comes through somewhat earthy with very subtle coffee and tree bark. Pretty timid but it ain’t bad.

Flavour: Similar to the aroma…lacking oomph. Pretty much just a stripped back Brown Ale with its four to the floor nutty malt, toast, lightly roasted malt and subtle coffee. The wattleseed is practically MIA, there’s delicate malt sweetness and a very faint touch of vanilla but the finish pretty much falls off a cliff.

Mouthfeel: Slippery, a little thin and watery. Mild-medium body. Co2 and ABV (5%) neither here nor there. The exact opposite of how we like Brown Ales to be.

Overall: Pretty disappointed. Especially when considering Rogue had a hand in this. It’s bereft of any real character. We’re sure a few die hard Poms would dig it but that’s about it.