Beer 52 – Pretty Things Saint Botolphs Town

Style: English Brown Ale

Purchased at: Received via trade with Jared @ beeradvocate.com

What makes this beer different: Dark and complex as hell for an English Brown

Will I be drinking this again: If I can get my hands on it again

Grade: A-

12/30/2009: I just received this beer through a trade with Jared at Beer Advocate. I sent him some beer he cannot get here such as Great Lakes and Bells, and he sent in return a ton of stuff from the northeast that I cannot get here in the burgh. Not sure what made me pick this one to drink first but, I am glad I did.

As you can see the color of this beer is kind of a muddy brown. Smells like roasted almonds covered in brown sugar. The taste of this is VERY toasted and malty for a brown ale, but at the same time very complex. If I didn’t know ahead of time that this was a brown ale I would have assumed it was a porter. You can taste roasted malts, brown sugar, a little bit of some kind of sour fruit that I can’t put my finger on, and a tiny tinge of coffee in the aftertaste. Mild hops jump out also. Each sip brought out a little bit of a different flavor. Mouthfeel is heavy for a brown ale, and as I mentioned almost had more of a porter character to it. This whole bottle went down very easy, and might have to get Jared to send me another in the near future.