Big Bear Brown Bear Ale

Brewed by Big Bear Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale
Coral Springs, Florida USA

Serve in Dimpled mug

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This is a light but typical brown ale. The aroma is sweet and slightly nutty. The appearance is light brown with a small head. The flavor is sweet and toasty but not overly so. There is a light hopping. The palate is thin. A likable beer but not a great beer.

Draft. Poured a clear dark brown color with a large frothy light brown head that mostly lasted with good lacing. Medium toasted sweet malt aroma. Medium body with a smooth texture and soft carbonation. Solid toasted sweet flavor with a medium sweet finish of moderate duration. Better complex brew.

Draft at brewer. Brown pour with a thin tan head. Scent is caramel and nuts. Sweet malt taste with nuts.

Chestnut pour. Vanilla raisin with a chewy chocolate taste with and almost brandyish green apple twang late palate. Easy sugary brown ale. Fits the style.

Draft @ big bear. Pours amber with a white head. Nose is caramel sweetness, sweet bread, malt, and a very mild bitterness. Flavor is similar with a lovable malt finish. Very good brown ale overall.

Not too much going with this one. Has a medium body, just has it suggests. Pours brown with a goldish tint. Reminded almost of a scotish ale for some reason.

Poured up on tap at the brewpub as a striking clear garnet with thin tan head. The aroma is roasty and nutty with some complimentary buttered bread. The taste is full rich malt roastiness followed by smooth nuttiness and a mild multi grain bread note. Toward midway the malt sweetness ramps up to join the roasty notes. The whole thing fades into the finish. Overall the sweetness becomes a little too much after a few ounces are consumed especially for the style.

Tap. Clear brown with no head by the time it was brought to the table. Aroma is malty and a nutty, bready aroma. Flavor is a tad watery and malts and grains dominate. Ok at best.

Chestnut brown. Nutty aroma with some light toffeeish notes. Soft, nutty body with light brown sugar. Pretty standard fare.

Sampler. Clear copper color, no head. Aroma of nutty caramel malt. Flavor is light, caramel sweetness. Light bodied. Not my favorite.

My Bottom Line:
Frail caramel maltiness argues with a lingering mineral character in this fizzy and, I guess, serviceable Brown Ale. Big Bear can brew better.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A mountain of froth dips into the reddish light brown.
-Bubbles stuck to the glass, which is not necessarily a good sign...
-The sugary component perceived did not necessarily recall malt flavors; perhaps too much brewer’s sugar was used (or other adjuncts)? Or was this simply not allowed to ferment long enough, creating a deranged flavor profile?
-The body is anemic for the style and for the beer’s size.
-The carbonation is not only fizzy, it is expansive. Definitely a bothersome trait when you consider the fact that few malt flavors and residual sugars are coming through.
-In their regular lineup, I will surely go back for their Hibernation Pale Ale.

On tap at the brewpub.