Sweetwater Georgia Brown

Brewed by Sweetwater Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale
Atlanta, Georgia USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, Shaker

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12oz bottle from the Atlanta airport poured into a shaker. Pours a dark amber with about a finger of off-white head. Aroma of roasty malt and some caramel. Taste is about the same. Medium bodied with a relatively creamy texture. Lively carbonation and a long finish. Overall, pretty good. I would gladly drink this again.

12 oz bottle pours a brown color with an off white head. Aromas of roasted malt, nuts, pretty simple. Light bodied, a pretty simple brown ale.

UPDATED: MAR 18, 2012 Kind of mediocre, similar to the Guinness Black Ale. Nothing jumps out at me, just a middle of the road beer. Some hops would have been nice. Since this is from the multi-flavor 12-pack I didn’t really ask for this, it was just there so I tried it. Some chocolate and light coffee notes.

Not bad, not exceptional. The nose is not highly complex. A lite malt, some toffee, and nut. The beer is a chesnut brown with just a small off-white head. The taste is malt heavy. A little sweet with nut and toffee aromas and perhaps just a touch of smokiness. There is not much hop presence, just a little hint in the finish. The beer is clean and smooth. A good representation of the style and well made, but not a masterpiece. Highly sessionable and great with a variety of foods, particularly grill foods and barbeque (Georgia style of course).

Looks pretty good: Copper color with a decent head that leaves a thick ring at the top of the glass. Smells a little bready. Malty taste, and pretty sessionable. This beer isn’t incredible, it delivers exactly what it promises: an easy-drinking session brown. I still prefer CCB Maduro, but Georgia Brown is decent.

Bottle. The pour was a hazy copper brown with an average sized (1-2 finger) creamy beige head that lasted for a decent while thus producing some very good sheets of lace on the glass. The aroma was typical of a Brown Ale with some roasted chocolate malts, a smidgen of herbal hops and a doughy yeast with notes of coffee, caramel, brown sugar and a very light dark fruit ester. The taste was malty to say the least with mild chocolate and caramel notes from the beginning and finished about the same but with a slight hoppy bitterness, a touch of brown sugar and a strong coffee presence. The flavor hung around for a little while with the taste of coffee being the most dominant, but also having a very mild sweet bitterness to it. Mouthfeel was just a shade under medium in body with the texture being creamy and a little oily and having a medium carbonation. Overall a pretty straight forward Brown Ale. Bold and tasty, but with no surprises. Most definitely a brew you could drink a few of.

Draft. Pours amber brown with a beige head. Sweet caramel malty aroma with some light roasty notes. The flavor has lightly roasted malts, some toasty notes, nutty sweetness, and light floral hops. Not bad.

Tastes Sweet, mildly roasty, caramely and touch of Chocolate, No hops at all for balance. This is a pretty straightforward American brown ale, no surprises in the flavor, but no flaws either. Not as much in the nose however, just some lightly roasted malt, more aroma wouldn’t hurt. Medium bodied and well-carbonated. The beer’s color is on the border between light brown and dark amber, and the light tan head settles to a ring. A few small patches of lace are left on the glass. Decent, but not amazing.

I was deeply disappointed in this one. From such a good brewery I had a few surprises in store. First off, Sweetwater likes their hops -- a LOT. Too much hop nose and palette for the style and not enough chocolate hops to make it a respectable brown. Initial aroma was a little like cooked vegetables (collards, cabbage, greens). I had to ask for another bottle be poured to ensure it wasn’t a skunked batch. It wasn’t, which was the most disheartening part. Appearance was good (head, lacing, body, color). I like my browns to be well balanced between hops and malt with a nice medium dryness. Not so here.

Poured up on tap with a nice clear amber body, some copper hues and tan head. The mild aroma offers up some malts mixing with roasted malts and a faint dark fruity ester note. The taste is similar with sweet malts, roasted malts, a bit of highly roasted malts and a biscuit sort of chocolate maltiness. Behind the malts I get hints of sweet dark fruity esters.