Broad Ripple Diving Duck American Brown Ale

Brewed by Broad Ripple Brewing Co.
Style: Brown Ale
Indianapolis, Indiana USA

Serve in Dimpled mug

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Think more flavorful, fresher version of Pete’s Wicked. Spicy hop, yet bready, chocolate malt aroma. Fairly dry but substantial maltiness, with hop flavor more dominant. Pete needs to quit counting $ and kick the recipe up to this. Good stuff.

Indy Brewers Fest 2009 - firkin tent - Triple Hop? Aroma is toasted nutty malts with a hint of hops. Flavor is chewy malts, nut butter and a hoppy aftertaste that doesn’t really fit. A bit stale and off.

IBGF 2009, firkin at the booth (Diving Duck Triple Hop Brown). Well me and Ted (MI2CA) got in the wrong line and by the time we released it we were in front of the Broad Ripple booth, so what the heck, they had this is a small firkin so we took a sample... well it was interesting at least. Deep amber brown hue with small head and spotty lace. The aroma is weird, catty hops combined by a woody and nutty vapour with a touch of cheap coffee and chocolate syrup. The taste is malty and herbal with just a dash of grapefruit and mangos, muddled where neither the hops nor the malts seems to shine. The mouth feel is chalky and dry, soft and soapy too. Hum, I dunno, perhaps the dry hopping did not work. Pass...

Cask at the pub. Chestnut/mahogany brown body is mostly opaque. Aroma chocolate and nuts with light hops. Malt taste is actually pretty complex despite being really light and smooth. Balanced with some watery earthiness.

cask at the brewpub. pours a brown ruby red. nutty, slightly hoppy, with a touch of mocha.

Name: Nut Brown
Date: April 23, 2009
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub
Appearance: clear brown, fine beige head, streaks of drippy lace
Aroma: light sweet chocolate and caramel aroma
Flavor: rich chocolate flavor, touch of caramel sweetness, nice nutty character, well balanced with a combination of earthyness and light roasted
Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 2.9/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *4

Cask. Dark chestnut brown. Nutty nose with light pine. The flavor is actually quite good. Lots of hoppy goodness with lots of nuts and hops. Light and wasy drinking body. Pretty good.

cask at the brewpub - Pours medium brown with a lingering white head. It has a mild aroma of toasted caramel malt. The toasted caramel leads the sweet flavor that then finishes in a pleasantly lingering mild bitterness. It’s medium bodied and lightly carbonated.

Draft sample at brewpub on cask. Poureed hazy dark brown hue with average rocky off-white head that mostly lasted with good lacing. Moderate toasted malt aroma. Flavor was moderate toasted balanced with an average bitter finish of moderate duration. Medium smooth body. Good brew.

On cask.
Pours a hazy dark copper brown with an indestructible tan head of tightly packed bubbles. Aroma reveals a distinct American hop presence and a fair doses of malt. Flavor is hop up front and well-balanced by sweet malt, accompanied by a lightly dry grain flavor. Certainly on the bitter side for a brown ale, so it’s appropriate that they have dubbed this an "American brown ale" to distinguish it from its more traditional English counterpart. Still, this American experiment does not stray too far from its original roots and it works better than I thought it would based on its commercial description and its liberal (for a brown) use of hops. Good stuff.

Cask sampler at Broad Ripple. Well, their porter seemed more like a stout, and this semelleed more like a porter. Go fig. So a mellow roasty porter smell from a creamy thick head. First thing I taste is a good velvety cask mouthfeel. Deep mahogany brown color. Seems to be stronger than the 4.7% abv listed.