Arcadia Ales Nut Brown Ale

Nut Brown Ale
Arcadia Ales (Battle Creek, Michigan)
Style: Brown Ale
ABV: 6% 

I have to come clean and say that the label made me purchase this beer. It’s not so much cool as it is pleasant and informative. It shows the silhouette of a squirrel in a pastel-shaded forest. Very pleasant indeed.

The Battle Creek, Michigan brew has a strong smell of roasted malts. It pours into a consistent reddish brown color which was promising.

The mouth feel is medium to light, wavering more on the light side. This surprised me, as I come to expect some body to nutty brews.

The Nut Brown ale does not taste like anything spectacular. In fact, it does not taste like much at all. It has some notes of malt but little else.

Personally, I would not buy a six pack of this brew. However, if you are an Arcadia Ale fan, this is a sessionable beer.

2/4 Silhouetted Squirrels

Josephs Brau Dark Toad Dark Ale

Dark Toad Dark Ale
Josephs Brau (San Jose, California)
Style: Brown Ale
ABV: 5.3%

My dad picked up a six pack from Trader Joe’s. I was delighted to try Joseph Brau’s (Trader Joe’s brewing front) “Distinctive Dark Ale.”

It pours a consistent, opaque, dark brown with a red tinge. The beer had little to no head.

Dark Toad smelled like coffee, but its scent was not strong. It also had an underlying nuttiness to its smell. At first whiff, I really couldn’t detect much of a scent, but it became more complex as it warmed up.

The beer has a medium mouthfeel. It is slightly carbonated. The ale smells like coffee, but not strongly. It tastes very malty with a medium hoppy finish.

Dark Toad is just a bit too strong-bodied to be sessionable but maybe manlier men can throw down a few. It’s a very interesting flavor that certainly has more to offer than you would expect from a Trader Joe’s beer.

3/4