Tasting - American Brown Ale

Brewday Notes
Brewday Video

Appearance

Pours with a large sticky, off white head that hangs around through the entire pint. Colour is very dark amber, bordering on brown...but not quite.  At time of this posting, it's been 20 days since brew day and I believe the additional cold conditioning time has resulted in a fairly bright beer.  It's pleasing to look at.  For a fairly low flocculating yeast, I am pleasantly surprised at how well London Ale III responds to a little time at colder temperatures.

Aroma

Considering a total of 225g of hops (Simcoe and Centennial) were added to the whirlpool, the hop aroma is quite subtle by my standards.  I mean, there is some hop aroma but I am finding it subdued.  I am picking up some really nice fruity yeast esters, again quite mild.  Both the hop and yeast aromas are backed by a fairly strong malt profile, just a hint of roastiness.  While I would honestly say that I was hoping for more hop aroma, the marriage between the hops, yeast and malt actually balances out fairly nicely.

Flavour

The flavour and bitterness is decidedly "American".  The bitterness is firm, coming on strongly at the tip of the tongue before mellowing out as it hits the back of the palate.  Early samples displayed a strange menthol or eucalyptus note, however this seems to have subsided over the last 48hrs.  I would say there is more of a hop presence in the flavour but its a dank, rounded type of hop profile and sort of nondescript. Medium body, finish is fairly dry.  Roast character is fairly mild as well.

Overall Impression

Steve L - "It tastes Brown.  It tastes American. It tastes like a Brown American (Ale)"
Wife - "It smells hoppy (makes gross face).  It tastes better than it smells."

Wife doesn't enjoy the hops but I thought it would be a laugh to document some of her reactions to the American ales.  Personally, I would consider this a well balanced ale by American standards.  Nothing really jumps out to me, just a rounded brew.  The yeast massively over attenuated resulting in a dry,  6%+ ABV beer but thankfully it doesn't come across as boozy.  The roast character is very mild but does add just a touch of something interesting.  Nothing terribly wrong with the beer but nothing really exciting either... perhaps a little dry hopping might breathe some life into it?