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B-Side Brown ale

    Brewery: Beer Studio
    Country: Sweden
    Size: 33cl
    Alcohol: 6%
    Price: 28kr
    Systembolaget: 31125

    Anyone that visits pubs in England will be familiar with Newcastle Brown. It is quite unavoidable and for many people it is their gateway beer away from lager and into the massive world of ale. For me, Newcastle Brown will always be THE brown ale, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is the best. I have had many better brown ales. For instance, Founders do an incredible series of limited edition brown ales. As we were having Beer Studio as guests for the tasting, I thought it would be a perfect time to showcase their entry into the style.

    This was very autumnal with a lovely blend of chocolate brown and ruby red. The head was off-white and held fairly well. The aroma was a cornucopia of smells, with leather, tobacco, dark bread, grapefruit peel and bitter chocolate all readily discernible. Upon sipping, a large bitter coffee note hit the palate straight away. It was a lot more roasted than I expected. Dark chocolate powder and bitter citrus peel blended on the palate with a roasted nut flavour as well. This beer was medium in body and with quite a low carbonation. This really suck the moisture out of the mouth after swallowing, leaving a cacao powder like dryness.

    Brown ale isn’t a massive genre in Sweden but if you’re looking for a solid entry into the market then you should track this down. There was one of the fruitier brown ales I’ve tried which was quite surprising. This would be great in the longer winter nights that are hurtling rapidly towards us.