American Brown Ale Take II - Tasting Notes

Here is a tasting of an American Brown Ale that I brewed up in Late Nov, kegged in Mid December, and then have been drinking a lot of ever since.  An American Brown Ale, like many of our styles, is based on a British beer but is Americanized with bold and Fruity American hops.

This version was based on a Famous Homebrewer's Award Winning beer:  Mike "Tasty" McDole's Janet's Brown Ale.  The original is an "imperial" Brown Ale.  I wanted something lighter so I adjusted the grainbill to get an ABV of 4.7% which makes having "one more" after dinner an easier decision.

It is an aggressively hopped beer with a big emphasis on late hops.  Centennial is the primary aroma hop in the beer.  I kegged it with two ounces of Centennial which has worked out nicely as it's maintained a nice bold hop aroma and flavor over this last month.

I'm happy with how the beer turned out.  Here is an official tasting for posterity

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Fruity, spicy, and herbal hops are prominent along with a fruity ester character.  The two get along nicely.  It has a smell sort of like Fruit Loops cereal which is quite similar to the hop character in Founders Centennial IPA.  Maybe get a bit of malt character come through but it's far in the background
• Appearance:
• Pours with a dense 4 finger head that slowly fades through the glass.  Leaves lacing on the glass.  It is a dark reddish brown color and very clear when held to the light.
• Flavor:
• Up front I get a mix of hop character (fruity and herbal).  This transitions to bready and toasty malt and then a fairly firm bitterness kicks in that lasts into the finish.  There is some malt that carries through in the finish as well but the balance is towards the hops.  There is a bit of ester character in the flavor but not as strong as the aroma would suggest - it is mostly apparent in the finish
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium light bodied with a very light sweetness.  It is fairly smooth although the bitterness may have a slightly astringent component to it as well that contributes somewhat to the mouthfeel.  Pretty easy drinking though.
• Overall:
• This is a very hoppy beer - hopped to a level similar to an IPA.  The contributions of the brown ale are in the mix but relegated very much to a background role.  The Centennial hops are very nice - the 2 oz of keg hops really amped up hop contribution.  The fruity ester character from S04 is nice as well but it may have been better to go with a less expressive yeast to let malt and hops interplay a bit more - so much going on in the beer with a pronounced yeast component.  Still, can't complain about what is a nicely flavored beer.