Brewery Website: http://www.cigarcitybrewing.com
Type of Beer: Brown Ale
Alcohol Content: 5.5%
Beer Review -
Appearance: Poured a dark brown with ruby highlights and great clarity. Head is tan and fluffy with about two-three fingers of height. The head stuck around a lot longer than expected settling to a sticky film leaving behind beautiful lacing.
Smell: The smell….well by looking at the bottle one would expect to smell fresh baked oatmeal raisin cookies…and one would not be let down. Raisins dominate the smell coupled with a nice malty sweetness that plays well against the other spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and whatever else makes up that delicious cookie goodness. This is one beer that begs to be drank.
Initial Taste: Taste is quite unique. Flavor starts out just like the smell with a predominance of raisins. This raisin, dark fruit flavor gives way to all those delicious spices: cinnamon, nutmeg and my favorite – vanilla. The brown ale this beer is based on throws some nice bittersweet chocolate into the mix. While this is certainly a sweet beer there is just enough bitterness to cut through the cookie and remind you that you are drinking a really (really) good brown ale. The finish is dry and a the flavor of raisins lingers a bit.
Thoughts: Cigar City Brewing Company is located only a couple hours north of me in Tampa Florida. They are celebrated for their brown ales. Believe it or not out of the top 10 brown ales on RateBeer 5 of them are from Cigar City Brewing! So that should tell that these guys know their brown ales. This offering is no different. Take their great Maduro brown ale and add raisins and all the delicious spices that make up an oatmeal cookie…now how could that be bad? This beer not only smells incredible it’s taste is just as equal. All the flavors you expect to find in an oatmeal cookie are present and accounted for. Underneath this liquid cookie goodness is a terrific brown ale that’s rated third in the world by RateBeer. The only downside to all this flavor and sweetness is the drinkability. When you add as much spice and flavor as this baked good beer has you really can only drink one or two before the flavor becomes overwhelming. But as a dessert beer there is little competition. I highly recommend (unless you hate oatmeal raisin cookies that is…but that’s downright un-American). Cheers!
Type of Beer: English Brown Ale
Alcohol Content: 4.70%
Beer Review -
Appearance: Color is a nice clear ruby/brown with a tan creamy head. The head didn’t last a very long time but left nice lacing.
Smell: Clean smell with some nuttiness and sweetness. I feel the smell is very unique to Newcastle. Something to do with their special recipe.
Initial Taste: Starts off with sweet caramel followed by yeast and corn. The flavor is very mild with mild hop spices and for a darker beer like this there is very little malt flavor.
Thoughts: Newcastle seems to be a like/hate beer. There are many reviews on both sides of that coin. I happen to like Newcastle. It’s one the biggest commercial beers imported into the US (105 million pints a year). In order for a beer to be that popular it has a very big following. The flavors truly are unique to Newcastle. There are vegetables, corn, caramels, hops…like I said…very unique. This beer also makes for a very good session beer. While there are unique flavors in this beer everything is very muted making for a easy drink and little aftertaste.
If you have never tried a Newcastle I highly suggest picking some up. If you don’t like I’m sure you can find a friend who would be willing to take it off your hands…and if you do like it…score!
Type of Beer: Brown Ale
Alcohol Content: 4.25%
Beer Review -
Appearance: Deep mahogany with thin, one-finger, off-white head.
Smell: Soft and mild but you can definitely pick up the pecans. Interesting.
Initial Taste: Surprisingly nutty! The first flavor that hits your mouth is pecans followed by some hoppy bitterness and malts. It’s not at all overwhelming. Very nicely balanced.
Thoughts: This being my first pecan beer I do not have much to compare it to. I have to say I really enjoyed this beer. The flavor of pecans is very prevalent. Not something I really anticipated. Most flavored beers only give hints of the special ingredient (ie: dogfish head raisen beer), but this gives it to you right off the bat. But don’t worry it’s not all nuts. They balance the pecan nuttiness with sweet malts and a nice hoppy bitterness that really makes this beer finish well (and without a pecan aftertaste). Can’t wait to have another.
Type of Beer: Brown Ale
Alcohol Content: 4.50%
Beer Review -
Appearance: Dark brown and red. Clear complexion with thin, one-finger, light brown head.
Smell: Mild smell with subtle hints of malts, maples syrup and nuts. Pleasant.
Initial Taste: Again, mild flavor, almost gives the feeling of being watered down. The malt sweetness is balanced well with the nutty aftertaste.
Thoughts: Pretty much what you would expect from a nut brown ale, maybe a little light. These types of beers aren’t known for lots of flavor. However, saying that is not a slight on the beer in anyway. This is a very pleasant beer from smell to finish, though I wish the maple flavor was a little more present. Very easy to drink and also easy on the wallet 
. I recommend this beer to anyone looking to a try a Nut Brown Ale for the first time. I enjoyed this beer and would be happy to have it again.
