Sierra Nevada Brown Ale
I first tried this at Portland's Spring Beer & Wine Fest, and was thoroughly impressed, with fresh gummy hops and a balanced malt profile. If I was reviewing that sample, I would have given it a solid 4. But I'm not. This review is based on a recent sample at the Horse Brass Pub, and it's not quite as good as I remember, but this could be due to time, treatment, environment, or my mood. Dark brown, with small wispy head and good lacing. Toffeeish aroma, somewhat bland, but the HB is a smoky bar and I couldn't really get a good whiff. Roasty, nutty brown with trademark SN hops, not as blatant as they are in their other beers - which is true to the brown ale style. The dark, roasty malts are noticeably more robust than in your prototypical English examples, but they certainly aren't over the top. Very little yeast character (i.e. no butter). This is the most restrained and mellow Sierra Nevada beer that I've tried, and all the more authentic because of it. If you see this on tap, it's well worth trying, but you shouldn't kill yourself attempting to find some.