Better Bitters Nickel Brook Ale

341 ml bottle from MrManning!!! Nose of light hay (hops?), and a caramel and a slightly "off" note; hazy copper with a small beige head; flavor is kind of fruity, vegetal, and slightly sour in an odd sort of way. It doesn’t taste anything like most blondes I had had!

341ml bottle. Pours a copper gold with an amber hue. Aroma: Very nutty, with some floral hops, something fruity and fresh that I can’t put my finger on, not that bad. Taste: Nutty up front with a creamy mouth-feel, followed by a decent hop bite, and then a caramalt aftertaste. Pretty decent, not as bad as I was worried it was going to be, I just don’t understand the style classification. Golden/blonde ale? What? I guess the crispness and mild hops is something I’ve noticed before in other beers of the style, but the nuttiness? And the colour? Something isn’t right here.........the nutty flavour gets kind of annoying after a while...........

Pours a slightly cloudy amber-brown with the briefest of heads. Aroma slightly sweet, slightly foul. Tastes remarkably like a brown ale rather than a blond or golden. That’s why the "European" hops & malt stick out so - slightly jarring. Nice dry finish with just a gentle reminder of why I found the hops peculiar. Body is limp and lifeless. I like this hybrid-brown ale, but they need anglo-hops, more body, and a touch more carbonation. Thanks to robinboyer for the trade!

Looks like coca-cola, bang on. Smells like the inside of a hollow log, peet, with some sweet chocolate notes. Flavours get a little deeper as the beer warms slightly, but still relatively thin, lightly malty sweet, a touch of hops, with a decent dry finish. A good effort, but the lack of depth and watery mouthfeel hold this beer back considerably.

The beer pours with light amber color. The notes of malt show through with the hops coming to bear on the palate and on the finsh. It shows nice balance at the end.