Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale
Aroma has a sweet caramel quality to it, with a bit of roasted malts in the background. Pretty restrained overall, but nice. Pours a nice, brown complexion in the glass...pretty clear. Nice, rocky head was present. Taste has a good flavor profile that isn't in your face, but is certainly present and balanced. Upfront, there's a presence of restrained caramel malts with a note of roasted malts intertwining. Taste a bit "mineral-y" and metallic as well...maybe it's the well water. The nuttiness shows up in a very restrained fashioned after that...in a lesser strength than in many other nut browns. Lastly, there's a small but crisp hop bitterness from the English hops that closes it out rather nicely. This is definitely a classic and perhaps the definitive beer of the style. It's extremely drinkable and has good balance. The malts upfront with the nice English hoppiness in the back works well. I would like to see a more pronounced nuttiness from a nut brown ale, however.