Big Muddy Monster India Brown Ale

Brewed by Big Muddy Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale
Murphysboro, Illinois USA

Serve in Dimpled mug

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On tap at Lunar Brewing Co., and shaker served with a dark brown, ruby highlighted color, creamy, offwhite head foam, and clingy spots and wavey spray of lacing. The aroma was a touch of yeast and light grain, roastiness, earthiness, with a citrusy character. The flavor added lingering, but moderate hop bitterness, hints of dry cocoa, good carbonation, and light creaminess to the mouthfeel. Medium bodied, this quaffable, hoppy Brown finished with a mellow dryness along with the bitterness. A nice intro brew to learning the nuances of even bolder styles as Black IPAs.

22 oz bobmer from Spirits Crossroads. Poured a good looking dark brown body with an average sized fomay light beige head. Aroma is rather nice with some solid chocolate notes along with big citrusy hops, brown toast, pineapple. Thd body is a touch to thin, chalky and average to stronger carbonation, quick fading aftertaste. Flavor of dry hop cones, dry chocolate, brown toast, cirtus rinds, orange flavored tootsie roll pops. This is one decent beer that is way under the radar.

Glad I picked this one up! Deep red to black pour. Nose lends some roasty, smokey, and rich caramel malts. Also a fair and pleasant amount of citrus, and floral hops. Flavor is very citrusy, tropical fruits, grass, pines, and again roast and chocolate. Smooth and lightly bitter. This one is really nice!

Bomber pours a dark brown with an amber hue and medium off-white head. Aroma of caramel malts, slight chocolate, with hints of pine and citrus. Taste is earthy roasted caramel malts, cocoa, and bitter pine on the finish.

Bottle, shared with Parksy. Medium to darkish brown, medium tan head that shows decent retention. Aroma is equally hoppy and malty, citrus oil and chocolate. Palate is a tad thin, but the flavours are nice: chocolatey malts and slightly spicy fruity hops with a moderately bitter finish. A nice hoppy little brown.

Bottle… Pours clear and brown with a shimmer of burnt-orange and a small, creamy, mushroom-colored head. Decent retention. The nose offers fudge and floral, piney, citrusy hops. Light-bodied and watery with lively carbonation. The flavor provides medium to heavy metallic bitterness along with a solid note of unsweetened cocoa. Bitter, toasted, bone-dry finish. Bottle courtesy of KickInChalice!

22oz bottle from Binny’s, Plainfield. Pours a deep brown, amber tinted body with a finger-width, creamy, light brown head that dissipates slowly and leaves a nice lacing. Aroma is fairly hoppy with some pines, citruses, and florals as well as some caramel and a touch of cocoa. A light earth and graininess. Flavor is better. Citruses, earth, and grainy malts initially before a good amount of florals, a touch of cocoa, and a light caramel comes in. Finishes dry and moderately bitter with some roasted grains, a touch of toffee, cocoa, earthy and floral hops, and citrus. Lengthy aftertaste following a very smooth, medium body and a soft, moderate carbonation. Overall, a pretty solid, easy drinking beer that borders on the hoppy Brown Ale and Black IPA line. Well hopped and dry with a good dose of citrus, some earth, florals, roasts, and a light cocoa. Not bad.

Bottle in a trade, thanks Josh! Pour is deep, clear mahogany with a thin white sheet of foam on top. Aroma is pine hops, caramel malt, and faint floral notes. Flavor is also full of pine and resinous hops with a smooth, lightly roasted and lightly sweet malty backbone. Pretty well balanced and very drinkable. Solid offering.

22 oz bottle. Really a good balance here between a standard brown and ipa. Hops and bitterness are definitely there, but not overpowering as this is quite balanced in all aspects. It pours with a half-inch of tan cream colored, creamy head, some sticky lacing, and a semi-translucent chocolate brown body. The nose is fairly light and sadly doesn’t play too big a role in what is an otherwise pleasant experience. Some hazy, rich, dark grains, chocolate, earth, and light pine do come out. The feel is nice and highly drinkable. A good underlying bitterness and mixes and matches the creamy richness well. Similar to the aroma but more prominent, the flavors are fairly unimposing. More hop notes definitely come into play with herb, pine, and mixed citrus though the finish. Chocolate and rich, dark cereal grains, oat, and some estery fruit on the other side of things. The finish brings in some toffee along with citrus, and lingers well. Overall, good production and good drinking from southern Illinois. Not too bad.

Red brown and crystal clear, this is a nice looking beer with some ropey stripes of lacing. It bills itself as an india brown ale which in this case apparently means it’s an overgrown American brown. Not bad at all with a rich roast character and some nice citrus notes in the nose. A small downside is a touch of chaulky bitterness in the finish but this is an otherwise well done brew.