Nickel Brook Ale (pre 2009)

Formerly brewed at Better Bitters Brewing Co.
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Burlington, Canada

Serve in English pint, Shaker

Originally rated August 2006. Beautiful creamy off-white yellowish head that has great retention. The brew is clear copper in colour and has a good amount of active carbonation. Lacing is thick and patchy. The aromas are light with grainy malt and bittern hops hidden in the back. Smooth and creamy mouthfeel. The taste is also light, with some refreshing malt, apples in the middle and mild corn in the finish. Hop is also present as a flavour, but not in bitterness. I enjoyed this one as an easy-drinking cream ale... and like the description says, so did my girlfriend.

Clear amber brown with clear, off-white head. Butter bomb threat! Diacetyl disastah! Gassy and oily. Sweet and malty, a bit messy but flavors are actually tolerable after getting past the aroma.

Sampled at the brewery. It is certainly drinkable, but lacks anything distinctive. The hops are very mild and the aroma is slightly fruity.

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!

UPDATED: AUG 18, 2009 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.