Blindman Brewing American Brown Ale American Brown Ale at 5.8% ABV (C$3.87 at Willow Park Wine & Spirits, 473 ml, no bottle date or best before, acquired 23-Jul-2016, reviewed 26-Jul-2016)
Appearance: cloudy deep amber with two fingers of loose beige head, good retention and patchy lacing. (3/5) Aroma: citrus, pine, coffee, caramel/toffee. (8/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderate bitter. (7/10) Medium body, moderate carbonation, moderate bitter finish. (3/5)
Not bad at all. Interesting back story on the can, how they accidentally added four times the intended dark malt to a red IPA, ending up with something like a Cascading dark, before cutting it with a bunch of their session ale and a little IPA. I’m not unhappy with the result at all: there’s a distinct coffee presence, but overall the flavours are dominated by the citrusy hops. Even though they list Simcoe (and some others) there’s none of the cattiness that hop can sometimes bring. It looks a bit ugly, sure, but flavour-wise it’s definitely passable. (And for those of you who aren’t familiar with Alberta geography, “Blindman” is a local river, whose name might or might not derive from the number of twists and turns it describes.) (14/20)
7/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com
