Foothills India Brown Ale

Brewed by Foothills Brewing
Style: Brown Ale
Winston-Salem, North Carolina USA

Serve in Dimpled mug

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

UPDATED: DEC 15, 2009
Name: India Brown Ale aka Festive Ale
Date: December 19, 2006
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub
Appearance: muddy brown, fine tan head, lots of lace
Aroma: light chocolate malt aroma with light spicy hop character
Flavor: rich chocolate flavor, nice mellow hop spicyness adds character and a bit of bitterness

Name: India Brown Ale aka Festive Ale
Date: February 07, 2009
Mode: draft
Source: barley’s asheville
Score: 3.0 to 3.3
Aroma: bigger aroma with both the chocolate and hops amped up
Flavor: hop flavor just keeps getting bigger, lots of earthyness goes good with the chocolate
Overall: this one needs to be oaked

Name: India Brown Ale aka Festive Ale
Date: December 13, 2009
Mode: draft
Source: barley’s asheville
Aroma: aroma continues to be the weak link for this beer with the light chocolate malt and citrus hops
Flavor: flavor full of big chocolate and big hops
Overall: life is good in the mountains when the IBA returns

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.3/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **+ /4

on tap-pours a retaining creamy off white head and cloudy mahogany color. Aroma is citrus hops. Taste is citrus hops-bitter (cascade), secondary medium malt. Good carbonation. Almost a A2PA.

Growler shared by kp on 1/4/07: Pours a murky mahogany with a nicely-lacing off-white head. Aroma of earthy milk chocolate and fresh grapefruity hops. Body starts lightly sweet and earthy with a nice piny bitter balance. An enjoyable and interesting brew.

Growler courtesy of Degarth. Thanks for bringing this back from your trip. Pours dirt clear brown with fluffy light brown head. In the aroma I get mild pine hops, roasty malts, a bit of malt astringency and a hint of toffee. The taste is nice and malty mixed with pine hop bitterness but not in an Arrogant Bastard Ale type way. Approaching the finish the hops fade some giving way to rich roasty malts. Yum. The after taste carries even more roastiness and growing pine hop bitterness.

Growler. The beer poured a very hazy brown color with a beige head. The aroma had a light roasted malt character and a decent amount of sweetness. The flavor continued the trend of sweet roasted malt. Mild chocolate notes were present as well. The was a hint of spine mixed into the dry finish.

Draft at the brewpub. Pours a cloudy deep brown, chocolate milkshake like with a sizeable tan, chunk head that has great retention and lacing. Aroma is very hop forward: lots of pine, fresh citrus peels. Only small hints of malted chocolate and nuttiness. Taste is heavy on the citrus, piney hops. Some noticeable caramel in the background. Looking at this, it is obviously a brown ale but the taste is all IPA. I’m sort of a sucker for these dark IPAs and find this one excellent, very drinkable, and sessionable.

Copper brown, not much head. Nice aroma of coffee, bourbon and pine, nicely mixed together. Smoky coffee up from, then a sticky, piney finish. Very tasty. Brewgrass 2010.

Darught at the brewpub. Clear brown color with bubbly tan head that laced the glass. Flowery hop nose that is not quite as intense as the Kind Ale IPA. There is also a subtle caramel aroma. The flowery hops come out again in the flavor along with dried cherries and raisins. Very complex, tasty beer.

Pleasant surprise at the Federal, Durham. Expected a typically thin brown with minimal caramel malts and so forth. I was surprised that this was a fine, hoppy brown ale. A bit of malts but mostly a refreshing hoppy brew.

UPDATED: APR 27, 2008 Had at the brewpub on SC release. Festiv Ale. 2 years old. Subdued hops obviously, still spicy and piney just not as fresh. Darker malts mixed well. Overall a very nice brew. Like to try it fresh. Fresh, as IBA. very nice fresh. Very citrusy hoppy aroma and flavor. Grapefruit peel, sweet malty flavor. Nice darker IPA.