Hook and Ladder Backdraft Brown Ale

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

Light brown color with a tall, lasting, beige head. Light aromas of caramel (like kitchen bouquet) and toasted malt. Light caramel and nougat flavors. A bit of dry toasted malt in the finish and linger. Not catching much as far as cascade hops, perhaps a touch of grapefruit pith, but nothing like the normal cascade citrus. Boring at best.

Bottle 12 oz at Village Pub, KY. Poured clear brown color with a large white head that diminished slowly with good lacing. Moderate toasted nutty aroma. Medium body with soft carbonation. Medium toasted malty flavor with a medium toasted sweet finish of moderate duration. Good session brew and best of the three that I tasted.

Bottle from beeronthewall. Pours medium hazy brown with nose of slightly charred caramel malt, brown sugar, mild almond, and mild root cellary hints. Tastes caramel malty, with some brown sugar, toffee, and cobwebby esters.

A deep dark brown ale witha thick moka head. Pleasant aroma of nuts and hops, restrained. In mouth, a rather averge brown ale, with sufficient British hops and some good nutty malt. 5.50$ at Ray’s The Classics in Silver Spring, MD.

Bottle from Grocery Outlet in Woodland, CA. Dark ruby color with a multifinger beige head. It laces. Aroma of roasted brown malt. Medium body with creamy carbonation. Flavor is smooth darker roasted caramel. Light toast. A little bitter. Can tell it’s a brown, but the flavor is much less harsh than most. Seems to finish more astringent than anything else. A decent ale, tastier than very many, and an excellent buy at $.67.

Bottled. Deep brown and garnet colored body with a light tan head. The aroma has caramel and some nasty iced tea. There is also some light hints of fall leaves. The taste has some light iced tea and a little bit of baking chocolate. I would like a little bit of sweetness to balance out that dry character. A decent beer, but really boring.

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.

Bottle (12oz). Shared by blankboy with me and garthicus. Clear deep reddish-brown with an average fluffy off-white head. Dryish syrupy cola aroma, slightly nutty roast malt that seems a little cheap and fake, somehow. the taste is very thin and harsh - syrupy, weirdly medicinal, dry and somehow made me think of chemical and spilt milk. Thin mouthfeel, harsh afteraste - in one word: "cheap"