Berkshire River Ale

Brewed by Berkshire Brewing Co.
Style: Brown Ale
South Deerfield, Massachusetts USA

Serve in Dimpled mug

Bottle. Aroma is predominately sweet, cherries and wet malt (grain and musk). Pours a very much unclear brownish gold with a solid and steady thin white head. Surprisingly nice lacing. Flavor is pleasant with lots of sweet maltiness and fruit undertones. No discernible hop character but still not dominated by its sweetness. Mouthfeel opens nearly cloying but dries out quickly enough to be highly drinkable. Overall this is a tough beer to judge, but definitely an enjoyable one to drink. Without looking back up at the style, I’m impressed by its inability to be automatically characterized within one. After looking back at the style, I’m surprised at it being a brown ale and disappointed in its expression as such. Numerical rating applies not to style.

22oz. Deep brown, nearly no head and only slight carbonation. Smells and tastes like a cross between an oktoberfest and a special bitter. Besides that classic caramel malt smell there is some biscut and sweetness presumably from the wheat (it’s surprisingly clear for containing wheat). Hops are in perfect balance, outstanding really, they keep it clean and very drinkable. Careful drinking too much though, this is a risky one that I will be drinking whenever I can find it. Yay beer!

2009 Bottle. This BBC brew seems like a year-round adaptation of their Octoberfest. Strong alcohol flavor and presence accents the sweet caramel tones that are quite complex. Slightly acidic finish, similar to that of Belgian ales or other beers carbonated with candy sugar. Dry and enjoyable.

Hazy amber with a small hite head. Fruity aroma with marmalade, lemon and peach. Sweet fruity flavour with a little alcohol showing. Decent bitter finish.

Cask (gravity) @ GBBF 09, Great British Beer Festival, Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London, England.
Light unclear medium to dark amber color with a small to average, fizzy, virtually none lacing, fully lasting, off-white head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, raisin, wood, moderate to heavy hoppy, orange, overripped fruit, moderate alcohol. Flavor is light heavy sweet and bitter with a long to average duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is flat. Flavor and aroma is very sweet. [20090807]

Hazy deep orange color. Big puffy head. Minor spotty lace. Thin jetsam of carbonation. The aroma is an inoffensive but weak ale smell. Ale yeast and malt, slightly pale. Some mild, almost pilsnery bitter hops. The taste is almost like a lager: Crisp, bitterish light malt. Like a thick all-malt lager. Very nondescript but not bad. The feel is thick and creamy...and very malty. A good, decent ale. Not a ton of flavor, but easy drinking.

VEry good, a nice taste of roasted malts but not like an stout or others, just as nutty as other brown good ales.

Cask@GBBF. Dark nut brown color, small white head. Aroma has toffee, nuts, grassy-wwoody hops. Grassy hops, quite nutty, but also some vegetably notes. Lingering alcohol in the aftertaste.