Indian Brown Ale

published by beerguy on Sun, 2011-10-02 09:25

From the Dogfish Website:

Forget about the car companies, this is the original hybrid, a cross between a Scotch Ale, an India Pale Ale, and an American Brown. Our Indian Brown Ale is well-hopped and malty at the same time (magical). The beer has characteristics of each style that inspired it; the color of an American Brown, the caramel notes of a Scotch Ale, and the hopping regiment of an India Pale Ale. We dry-hop the Indian Brown Ale in a similar fashion as our 60 Minute IPA and 90 Minute IPAs. This beer is brewed with Aromatic barley and organic brown sugar.

The Indian Brown Ale is available year-round, so you should be able to find it at fine retailers and restaurants who carry our other year-round beers. Don't see it? Ask! Most great retailers would love to hear from you.

Brewery:

Dogfish Head Brewery

Style: Not Listed

ABV:

5.2%

Great Beer

Aroma:

Chocolate is predominant, but there is also a sweetness reminiscent of molasses. No real hop aroma evident to me even after warming a bit.

Appearance:

Red brown which really highlights the red color when held to the light. The beer is clear, with a moderate off-white head.

Flavor:

Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. After the initial chocolate, the beer slides into a bitter-sweet mix of flavor hops and cocoa, wandering back and forth for a while. The finish is long and moves back to chocolate. The after-taste is chocolate, but there is a definite bitterness from the hop and malt.

Mouthfeel:

Definite carbonic bite, and a medium-full body. This beer does not really drink lika a 7.2% beer. The sugar also didn't thin the body out like I would have expected.

Overall:

This beer is a chocolate lovers delight. Not quite dark enough for a porter, but close. There is also a lack of roasted malt bitterness I would expect in a stout or a porter. They are close though. In a blind tasting I might confuse it for a big Porter, so don't expect a Newcastle style brown ale. This is a very complex ale, and a beer lovers delight. Very drinkable. A little aging may have mellowed this out, but I couldn't wait!

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Indian Brown Ale