Hook and Ladder Backdraft Brown Ale

Brewed by High Falls Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale
Rochester, New York USA

Bottled. Poured clear cola brown with a short-lived cap of beige head. The aroma picked up artificially-sweetened caramel and nutty notes with mild earth accents.. syrupy and very sweet.. non-offensive. The flavor had basically the same stuff.. sweetened-up nutty notes with caramel support.. mild toasted grain and coffee bitterness around.. finished tacky and kind of ugly with assorted darker malts (nutty, chocolate, and molasses). Lighter-bodied and well-carbonated on the palate.. thin feel with too much sweetness.. drinkable, but not that good.

Not a bad brown ale. A little run of the mill (even for the style), but decent nonetheless. Aroma was dark malt, peanut and roasted nuts. Pour was a nice deep dark brown with a 2 finger tan head. Taste was a little thin and watery. Nutty and dark caramel with a borderline chocolate aftertaste. Decent carbonation. Average at best.

Clear and brown, with a tall tan head. Caramel, malty aroma. Light, sweet, almost chocolaty malt flavor. Quite drinkable.

Overall Impression: I haven’t had this beer in a while, but I remember thinking it was pretty good. Sometimes your just in the mood for a nice, simple Brown Ale, and this one hits that demo.

Brown pour with small white head that quickly dissipated. Caramel in aroma with hint of malt but flavor was really watery and metallic. Underwhelming.

Caramel, toast, rich nuttiness. Apparently well made, but too bland for my tastes.

Bottle - Pours a dark/opaque brown in color with a medium off-white head that stuck around. Aroma is fairly strong of caramel and biscuit malts... slightly sweet. Flavor is a nice mix of tasted malts, caramel and brown sugar. Not much for hops. Lingering sweetness. A bit of a metallic aftertaste unfortunately. An OK brown, but nothing that distinctive....

On tap, fall 2008: Pours a transparent dark copper mahogany with a small, off-white head. Mild aroma of toasty caramel malt and nutty character without much hop presence. Body is about average with some semi-sweet maltiness and nutty flavor before a thin, but smooth finish. Pretty drinkable, but could use more assertive character.