Downtown Brown (Lost Coast Brewery & Cafe)

The Lost Coast Brewery and Cafe is a small brewery in Eureka, California.  We discovered their Downtown Brown Ale through a random six pack at Binny's.

This brown ale has a much more bitter finish than some of the other brown ales we've reviewed, and the overall texture is not smooth.  With the other ales we believe we've been able to find some more chocolate or smoky notes in other brown ales, we don't feel like that's the case here. 

All in all though, it's not a beer that's unenjoyable - but at any place that would serve this beer, there definitely are better options.

Rating:  2.5
5% ABV

Nut Brown Ale (Goose Island)

Goose Island is, of course, a brewery that has been featured before on this blog - and will be in the future.  However, their Nut Brown Ale isn't their best offering.

The flavor is a dull chocolate flavor throughout; there isn't truly a differing note from the nose to the aftertaste.  While not unpleasant, it's a little boring compared to other, more complex brown ales.  Remember how we said that Goose Island's Harvest Ale was just one note of bitter?  Well we'd say that this Nut Brown Ale is just one note of chocolate - however it is definitely more drinkable than their Harvest Ale.

However, you could do far worse for a beer to drink with a steak or just at the end of the day.  But given the choice, we'd rather have a Messiah Nut Brown Ale or Ellie's Brown Ale.

Rating:  3.0
5.3% ABV

Messiah Nut Brown Ale (Schmaltz Brewing Company)

The Messiah Nut Brown Ale by Schmaltz - which carries the additional title of He'Brew to play on the Jewish heritage of the brewery - is one of our favorite brown ales.  They have breweries both in New York and San Francisco. 

This deeply colored brown ale starts bitter but finishes with a bold, chocolate taste.  The texture is nice and light as you would want your ales to be.  It also only leaves a slight after taste in your mouth but nothing too heavy. 

Despite the light texture, this is probably a beer best enjoyed slowly due to the bold flavors - and also probably best-paired with red meats or other very flavorful foods.  Foods with subtle tastes would probably be lost to this beer. 

ABV: 5.5%
Rating: 4.0