Cornerstone Berea Brown

Draft at the brewery. Sweet malt with a strong chocolate taste. Had a moderate bitterness, 29 IBU as I remember. A stronger brown ale would be nice, but still very enjoyable.

Meh, I was not impressed. It’s not a bad brown ale, just mediocre and unexciting.

Draft at the brewpub. Aroma: Sweetish malt with a good amount of bread and grain. Lightly toasted nuts, light caramel. Appearance: Light chestnut brown and clear. Head was light beige and foamy, but was almost gone by the time it got to me. Flavor: Toasted nuts, light toffee, and a moderate malt sweetness. A little bit of spiciness. Not sure if it was yeast spiciness or a bit of hop spiciness. Palate: Medium-light bodied. Medium carbonation. Overall: Not a bad brown ale, and a pretty good session beer. Like most offerings from this brewery, I’d like to see them bump the flavors up a bit and take some chances. All in all, a decent beer.

On tap @ cornerstone: Small white head on a darker brown/mohogany clear body. Malt aromas dominate w/ toasty & cereal grains. Roasty also come in as it warms as well as nutty. I also noticed a little bit of soapy aroma in this one, but not until it warmed. Toasted & caramel flavored malts, roasty throughout, a little "dried yeast" flavor is a little spicy phenolic, but I’m not sure it’s supposed to be there. Finish is on the dry side and roasty as is the aftertaste. Body is light medium, lower carbonation, smooth. There only seems to be a little bit of an off phenolic flavor and aroma. I’m not sure if it was supposed to be there or not. Anyway, it’s interesting and would be a pretty good English brown if not for the slight funkiness and little bit of soapy flavor. It might have been my glass since no one else noticed it at our table.

This was a damn strong brown ale, and also another one from this place that I didn’t like.