Shooting Creek Buffalo Brown

Formerly brewed at Shooting Creek Farm Brewery
Style: Brown Ale
Floyd, Virginia USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, Shaker

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Poured a darkish but clear brown with a decent lacing. The aroma is heavy on tart and sourness. Taste has very strong tart characteristics of berries that are not yet ripe, with a healthy dosage of slightly spicy hops. A rather strange beer for a brown ale, as there really isn’t that much sweetness on this one.

Pours deep chestnut-mahogany with a foamy tan pillow head that leaves thick foam lacing. The nose is malty with some cured tobacco notes. The flavors are of nutty malts, some light yeast, burnt caramel, coffee and finishing on a smoky coffee bitter. The palate is smooth with a medium body. Nice layering of textures here to build depth. A nice variation on the typical brown ale. With so many complexities at work, this is by far the best offering I’ve tried from this local brewer.

On draft a Sharkey’s in Radford. Pours a clear deep brown with rich chestnut highlights and good dense tan head with moderate sea foam lacing. Nose is sweet and toasted caramel with some toffee. Flavor is citrus hop bitter but with a unique blend of coffee and dirt notes. Lingering hop bitterness on the palate. I get what they are going for here, and I admire their unique take on a traditional brown, but I just didn’t care too much for it personally. Not a bad beer by any means though.

Serving: Swingtop bottle. Appearance: Dark brown color with a large, creamy, off white head. Good head retention. Aroma: Definitely nutty with some nice resinous hop notes. Flavor: Nice pine hop notes that are well balanced with a nutty malt flavor. Some soap and herbal notes as well. I think this one is pretty tasty. Palate: Medium carbonation with a medium mouthfeel and a medium, bitter finish. Overall: I think this one is a little underrated. I found it to be pretty good. I wouldn’t mind being able to get this further up in the state.

Caramel and walnut nose with subdued grassy hop notes. Clear brown with a medium light yellow head, minimal lacing. Medium bodied, quite bitter with an emphasis on dark roasted malt. Charred oak, bark, and peat are distinguishable. Charcoal finish. Pretty nice with grilled chicken and pork.

12oz bottle shared courtesy of Josh. Poured a medium reddish/brownish color with an averaged sized off white head. Aromas of roastiness with some nuttiness. Tastes of roast, nuts, and some lighter caramel.

On tap at the Virginia Beer Festival at Capital Ale House - Midlothian on 07/03/2009. Hazy dark brown body with a medium creamy tan head. Sweet nutty, molassas aroma. Nutty and molassas flavor with a slight metallic note and some hop bitterness. Medium body with moderate carbonation.

Sampled at Virginia Beer Festival. Hazy dark brown. Aroma was green hops and a bit nutty. Flavor was metallic hops, and I don’t usually even detect metallic. Nutty backbone was nice, but not enough to balance the hop component, which I unfortunately didn’t care for as much.

Sampled on draft at the 2nd annual Virginia Beer Festival at Capital Ale House Midlothian. Pours a hazy murky reddish brown color with a medium head. Good head retention and lacing. Aroma of chocolate and light roasted malts. Spicy hops as well. Taste is chocolate and bitter, spicy hops. Thin-med bodied. Straightforward and decent.

12 oz. Label says 7.6% abv. Nearly opaque chestnut with a lasting half-inch of foam. Earthy, charred, dusty and bitter cocoa-coffee aroma. Flavor is the same, and is too much of a good thing. Some citrus hops in there too, but don’t seem to quite mesh with the roast. Medium-heavy body is very drinkable, smooth and roasty dry. A tad more sweet malt or fruity hops (or less of the harsh roasted malt and citrus hop) and this would be a very nice brown.