Lately I’ve been bouncing all over the beer color and taste spectrum, jumping from double IPA’s to Belgian Strong Ales to most recently a Russian Imperial Stout. This is largely because I try to find interesting beers, which to Americans means extremely strong in taste and alcohol. The few more restrained beers I have reviewed tended toward the lighter end of the spectrum such as the Kölsch and California Common styles, so I decided it was time to rectify this by trying a more temperately flavored dark beer. After browsing the coolers for something to fit this requirement, I finally settled on a Northern English Brown Ale.
Both of my readers may recall that I reviewed Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout over the summer, and I decided to stick with this brewery and give their Nut Brown Ale a shot. Samuel Smith’s Old Brewery was opened by Samuel Smith after he inherited the brewery from his uncle William Smith in 1886. The brewery itself dates back to 1758, having been the home to several different companies since that time, and is considered to be the oldest brewery in Yorkshire and the only remaining independent brewery in the city of Tadcaster. The brewery still draws its water from its original well, and has continuously used a strain of yeast since prior to 1900. Samuel Smith’s is noted for consistently producing very good beers, which typically serve as benchmarks of their respective styles.
Brown ales vary by region throughout England, and the Northern varieties tend to be a bit drier and hoppier than the Southern beers. The proper glassware for this style is a pint glass or mug as this is an everyday beer, lacking the complexities that stronger English beers such as Barleywines exhibit. Good food pairings for this beer would be earthy or nutty cheeses or a grilled meat, which will complement any roasted grain characteristics in the beer.
The nut brown ale poured a dark brown color, but when held up to the light a reddish hue was quickly apparent. The clarity was quite good, and both the clarity and the colors are typical of this style. The head was a light brown color, almost like that of coffee with a lot of creamer in it, and the texture was quite coarse due to large bubble size, which came as a bit of a surprise. The aroma was a pleasantly sweet, toffee-like smell, which was not overpowering or cloying at all. I did not notice any of the hop aroma or fruity scents which are sometimes present in this style, but by no means are these required, and it was quite enjoyable without them.
The first thing I noticed when tasting the beer was the surprisingly smooth texture; given the course head consistency I expected a very spritzy beer, but this was not the case. The carbonation was overall fairly moderate, although I noticed a sparkly quality on my tongue several seconds after taking a sip. The body was moderate but lingered, largely offsetting the effect of the carbonation. There was a bit of hop bitterness midway through the taste, but the main taste was a very pleasant caramel sweetness. This taste was not particularly strong, and overall the beer was pretty dry, but it is a defining characteristic of this style of beer that often ranges toward a toasted or biscuity nature. I was slightly surprised as the more caramel rather than nutty character, as this is a Northern English brown ale, but regardless it was an excellent taste. The aftertaste of this beer was a slightly bitter roasted malt taste, which was quite reminiscent of a stout such as Guinness.
Overall, this was a moderately flavorful beer that was balanced more toward the malt side. I quite enjoyed it, and I plan on trying some more of Samuel Smith’s brews in the future. I recommend trying this beer if you typically don’t typically like “dark” beers since the taste is so mild in comparison to stouts, but you still get a hint of roasted grain character.
Size: 18.7 oz
Price: $3.69
ABV: 5.0%
Look: 3/5
Smell: 3.5/5
Taste: 3/5
Mouthfeel: 3.5/5
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