English style Brown Ale – a very old fashioned beer from a very new fashioned brewer. In this day and age of hopped on hopped beers, this is an unusual little malty number to form part of the small core range (including an XPA, IPA and Pilsner) from the relatively new Gold Coast outfit. Disclaimer – Brown Ale isn’t my favourite style, but when done well I enjoy them (like all beer).
Can. Pours a burnt caramel brown, with virtually no head. Muted aromas of chocolate, nuts, caramel and toffee. Quite sweet, with chocolate, caramel, candy sugar, marzipan and an ever so slight roasted bitterness to finish. A full mouthfeel for an English style Brown Ale, which can often have hollow points in the mid palate, but doesn’t in this case. Minimal carbonation, which is perfect for the style. It’s a little too sweet and lacks roastiness for my tastes, but next time I drink it I’ll have a few pieces of salty English cheeses (think Cheddar, Stilton and Shropshire), which will perfectly offset the sweetness.
Appearance: 3/5
Aroma: 7/10
Flavour: 7/10
Palate: 4/5
Overall: 13/20
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