Saturday, April 19, 2008

Full Sail Nut Brown Ale

I tend to shy away from brown ales brewed in the US because so often it seems as if the brewer missed the whole point. So-called "brown ales" are often bland, too sweet, or ruined by a burnt character from too much roasted malt. I took a chance, though, with Full Sail's Nut Brown Ale because they're such good brewers and the Brewmasters Reserve releases are always worth tasting.

While I can't be positive who brewed this, it has John Harris written all over it. There aren't too many other craft brewers I know who can so consistently hit a beer style and the Nut Brown is perfect: creamy, rich, with an intriguing blend of malt and hop flavor and just the right toasty edge without the unwanted roasty or burnt quality. At 6% abv, it's maybe a bitter stronger than one would expect from a brown ale, but the alcohol is thoroughly disguised by the malt. The beer makes a nice change from all the hop killers churned out here in the PNW.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know enough about beer or ale to know what you're talking about, but I have a question I bet you can answer.

Why is there a bump out on the pint glass? I think it looks cool, but does it serve some purpose?

~Zooey

ASK Advertising said...

Hi Jeff, where did you get your hands on this F/S Brown Ale? My mouth is watering just seeing the picture of it. Thanks.

jefffrane said...

I'm pretty sure I bought it at New Seasons, but you can definitely find it at Belmont Station.