Samuel Adams Brown Ale
This brown ale is reddish brown in color. Almost a match to the wood desk I am sitting at. Starts with a nice off white two finger head which has already receeded to on finger-just in the time that it took me to write this. Good lacing qualities add to the appearance of this beer. The head is more towards the creamy side as opposed to the rocky side. Head retention ends up being pretty poor, definitely could be improved. Aroma is sweet and malty, no hops present to the nose. Darker malts easily make themselves known in the aroma, perhaps some medium colored crystal, aromatic malt. There are also some nutty aromas mixed in with the caramel aromas. The flavor of this beer seems to be rather fleeting, here and then gone- quick as Muhammad Ali. The bittering hops easily make themselves known as that is the first thing that I pick up on. First bitterness on the back of the tongue then some sweet malty flavors that include a roasted flavor, caramel, and nutty. I think that I would enjoy it more if the flavors lasted a bit longer in the mouth. This beer finishes fairly dry, leaving behind a faint hop taste in the mouth. Carbonation seems appropriate for the style, though I'm sure it could be considered high if this were supposed to be a real ale.It is medium bodied and the overall feel is good in the mouth, nice to feel like you're not drinking water...you know. The beer is drinkable enough but I would definitely try others before I came back to this one. However, since it is a limited release I probably will never be able to buy it again.