Yankee Brew News Archive

YBN Tasting Panel: The Brown Ales of New England

Originally Published: 06/97

By: Gregg Glaser

The following beer reviews list the results of a tasting panel whose goal was to review all craft-brewed brown ales produced by New England microbreweries and brewpubs that package in bottles or growlers. Micros that only keg their beers, and the majority of brewpubs that don't bottle, were not included. The reason was to create a central location for the tasting. All beers were shipped directly by the breweries, insuring the freshest possible product.

The format was a blind tasting, with the panelists knowing only that the beer was a brown ale. The members of the panel included Peter Reid, Editor of "Modern Brewery Age"; Jack Kenny, Beer Columnist for the "Connecticut Beverage Journal"; Steve "Dr. Pivo" Victor, BJCP beer judge; The Naughty Nurse, occasional YBN beer writer; and Gregg Glaser, YBN staff. The reviews, listed in the order they were tasted, are a distillation of the five panelists' comments.

Woodstock Inn Brewery

North Woodstock, New Hampshire

Pig's Ear Brown Ale

A big buttery aroma with some hops present but no malt or dark grain aromas; very fresh; medium brown with a good head; lots of buttery notes up front in the taste and some faint dark grains in the middle, but no malt sweetness; a dry hoppy finish; fresh; quite drinkable; thin to medium body.

Mugs: 2.5-3

Old Harbor/Pilgrim Brewing

Hudson, Massachusetts

Pilgrim Nut Brown Ale

A slight vegetable-like (cabbage) aroma; no pronounced malt, dark grain or hops aroma; reddish with a good head; a sharp hop bite up front in the taste that carries through to the middle; a mild, sweet malt flavor in the middle mixed with some dark grains flavor that didn't seem supported by the rest of the beer; a slight butteriness; thin to medium body.

Mugs: 2-2.5

Gritty McDuff's Brewing

Portland, Maine

Gritty McDuff's Best Brown

Toffee aroma with faint hops and some darker grains; light brown with a good head; a wonderful complex mixture of flavors; a nice taste from dark grains and a lovely dry hop finish that hangs on; medium body.

Mugs: 3-3.5

Atlantic Brewing

Bar Harbor, Maine

Bar Harbor Real Ale

A strong perfumey aroma, but no malt or dark grains present; light brown with a good head; low hops in the taste and a dry hop finish with no malt sweetness or dark grains flavors; cardboardy; lacking in character; thin body.

Mugs: 1.5

Shipyard Brewing

Portland, Maine

Shipyard Brown Ale

A big hoppy, citrusy and buttery aroma (Ovaltine and grapefruit); light brown with a good head; very citrusy and hoppy up front in the taste with medium dark grains flavors in the middle; a dry hoppy finish; more like a dark pale ale than a brown ale; quite drinkable; thin body.

Mugs: 2.5-3

Wachusett Brewing

Westminster, Massachusetts

Wachusett Country Nut Brown Ale

A muddy aroma reminiscent of band aids and solvent, but not of hops and malt; medium brown with a good head; tastes of pine tar; a burnt malty flavor, almost scorched, with no evident flavors of malt, dark grains or hops; dry hop finish; overall, not pleasant; medium body.

Mugs: 1

Old Nutfield Brewing

Derry, New Hampshire

Nutfield Auburn Ale

A huge buttery aroma that masks any possible malt, dark grain or hops aromas; light brown with a good head; a sharp hop bite up front in the taste as well as in the finish; huge buttery flavors but no evident malt sweetness or dark grains flavors; one dimensional; medium body. Absolutely lovely label of a nut tree in bloom in a country field by a running stream and stone wall with a cottage, woods and mountains in the background.

Mugs: 1.5

Sea Dog Brewing

Bangor, Maine

Sea Dog Old Gollywobbler Brown Ale

A hoppy, buttery aroma, but no malt or dark grains; light brown with a good head; a strong CO2 bite up front in the taste; lots of hop flavor but no pronounced sweet malt or dark grains flavors; a harsh hop finish; unbalanced; more like a dark pale ale than a brown ale; medium body.

Mugs: 1.5

Oak Pond Brewing

Skowhegan, Maine

OPB Nut Brown Ale

A buttery, hoppy aroma with nice traces of dark grains (chocolate-like); dark brown with a good head, a strong buttery taste up front with strong chocolate-like flavors in the middle; some sweet maltiness; a sweet, buttery metallic finish; overall a rough balance; unpolished; medium body.

Mugs: 2.5

Bar Harbor Brewing

Bar Harbor, Maine

Thunder Hole Ale

Wonderfully balanced aromas of dark roasted grains, malt and hops; medium brown with a good head; a lovely malty sweetness in the taste balanced with chocolate-like dark grains; subdued hops in the taste and finish; well-conditioned and balanced; smooth; medium body. Another lovely label.

Mugs: 3.5

Hammer & Nail Brewers of Connecticut

Watertown, Connecticut

Hammer & Nail Brown Ale

A smokey, buttery, fruity (apricot-like)aroma; medium brown with a good head; apricot-like flavors up front with low malt sweetness and dark grain flavors; low hop bitterness; medium body.

Mugs: 2

Overall, the tasting panel was not very pleased with the quality of the brown ales tasted. The panel members do not dislike hops, but were dismayed at the seemingly huge and unbalanced use of hops in a style of beer that requires more sweet malt and dark grain flavors.

The following New England breweries also bottle brown ales, but their beers didn't make it to the tasting panel. If you know of other bottled brown ales that we missed, let us know.

Sugarloaf Brewing

Carrabassett Valley, Maine

Middlesex Brewing

Wilmington. Massachusetts

Long Trail Brewing

Bridgewater Corners, Vermont

Smuttynose Brewing

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Page 8 YBN Brown Ale Reviews