“Nail dedicates this special batch to brewing guru Hugh Dunn of ECU for his help to not only rebuilding Nail but lifting it to another level”.
This is our first crack at what we believe is a retired breweries range. Served in a shaker glass the deep mahogany brown pour produced a tight 2 finger head that retained and laced well. A really good display of malts are on offer here. Pale, chocolate and crystal malts all integrate beautifully with each other to create chewy and caramelised aromas of caramel, chocolate, nuts, praline, bread and vanilla. The mouth feel is frothy with medium-high carbonation. Maybe a tad too high considering the style of beer. Medium bodied. Even though the carbonation level is high for a brown ale the flavours are not hindered as the taste buds are met with sweet sticky toffee and dark fruits. Subtle doughy notes in the mid-palate are complimented by soft roasted malts and toffee to finish. The back end seems to drop off a bit short but there’s still enough to salvage. The 4.5% ABV may add to this beers slightly weak body. Not much else to say about this beer except that it’s perfectly average. We can’t find anything overly exceptional here.