Category Archives: Brown Ale – Imperial

Founders Velvet Rush

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 11.1%
Style: Brown Ale – Imperial
Other Notes: Barrel aged series. 2021 release

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Borrowing elements from both high-end craft cocktails and moody jazz clubs, Velvet Rush takes the bourbon barrel-aged brown ale up an octave with free-flowing notes of coffee, chocolate and vanilla extract. Milk sugar aides in weaving together this complex tapestry of flavors to create a unique sipping experience that really ties the room together.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.86
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 12 fl. oz. bottle, bottled on 5th August 2021, poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: A clear dark brown colour with an almost one finger beige head that had decent retention and left some nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: Sweet, brown sugar, chocolate, vanilla, milk, caramel, roasty, coffee bean, espresso, oak, with light bourbon notes.
Taste: Moderate to high sweetness with slight bitter notes, caramel, brown sugar, chocolate, vanilla, coffee, bourbon.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Excellent aroma as the bourbon crept through as it warmed. The flavours were a bit sweet for me though, and didn’t make it as easy to drink as I would have liked.

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Prairie Coffee Okie

Brewery: Prairie Artisan Ales
Country: USA
ABV: 13%
Style: Brown Ale – Imperial
Other Notes: Brewed and bottled by Krebs Brewing Co., Krebs, Oklahoma

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Imperial Brown Ale aged in whiskey barrels with coffee beans.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.21
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 12 fl. oz. bottle with a Julian bottled on date of 33415 (I believe), meaning it was bottled on 30th November 2015. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A clear dark brown colour with a thin tanned head that dissipated quickly and left only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Coffee, caramel, vanilla, chocolate, oak and sweet whiskey.
Taste: Sweet, caramel, butterscotch, vanilla, chocolate, coffee, oak, whiskey and booziness.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, medium to full bodied with low carbonation.
Overall: A nice sipper, maybe a touch on the sweet side, but still great on a cold day.

Against The Grain x Montseny Jorge Castaña

Brewery: Against The Grain Brewery x Cervesa del Montseny Artesana
Country: USA
ABV: 8%
Style: Brown Ale – Imperial
Other Notes: Imperial Brown Ale with roasted chestnuts. A beer about nothing. It’s not a lie, if you believe it

Brewer Description: (from bottle) The world’s are colliding. We did this for no reason. So under no circumstance are you to expect anything. Except, a rich chocolaty and nutty, barrel aged brown ale. Jorge pours dark and roasty, so don’t be alarmed when you ask for another. Its not you, its Jorge.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.96
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 750ml bottle with no bottled on or best before date. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A dark brown colour with a one finger beige head that dissipated fairly quickly and left sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Sweet, raisin, caramel, vanilla and oak with a light nut roastiness.
Taste: Quite similar to the aroma as its sweet with raisin, caramel, chocolate, toffee, vanilla, nuts, whiskey and oak with some booze and alcohol warmth.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Nice aroma and flavours but perhaps a bit too sweet. This sweetness and the booziness make it a sipper for me, even though it is only 8% ABV.

Against The Grain Jackyale

Brewery: Against The Grain Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 9.5%
Style: Brown Ale – Imperial
Other Notes: 35 IBUs. Stave It For Later Barrel Series. Bourbon barrel aged Imperial Brown Ale

Brewer Description: (from website) Double brown ale aged in bourbon barrels in honor of the greatest rock and roll band on this or any other time: JACKYL. Drinking this fine beer will make you feel like the sun is shining down on you, and the heat of love’s flames, down on you. You’ll love the thought of me coming… down on you. This is only weird if you make it that way. PS. We won’t make any beers about pussy rock ballads, I promise!

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.16
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 750ml bottle with no bottled on or best before date that I could see. Poured into a snifter.
Appearance: A clear dark brown colour with a half finger beige head that dissipated fairly quickly but settled to a ring around the glass. There is only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Coffee beans, chocolate, caramel, vanilla and oak with only a hint of bourbon.
Taste: Sweet and roasty. Caramel, molasses, vanilla, oak and bourbon with hints of milk chocolate.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate prickly carbonation.
Overall: Perhaps a little bit too sweet for me, but the nice bourbon and oak flavours do make up for that minor flaw.

Founders Sumatra Mountain Brown

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 9%
Style: Brown Ale – Imperial
Other Notes: 40 IBUs

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Imperial brown ale brewed with Sumatra coffee.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.28
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 355ml bottle with a best by date of 31st January 2017 and poured into a Moonzen teku glass.
Appearance: It poured a clear dark brown colour with a nice two finger tanned head that had decent retention and left great lacing.
Aroma: Coffee, roasted malts, chocolate, caramel and lightly bready.
Taste: Similar to the aroma with roasty coffee, chocolate and caramel with a hint of vanilla and nuttiness on the finish.
Mouthfeel: Smooth, medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: It’s a nice Brown Ale that doesn’t feel like a 9% abv beer and drinks easily. It’s one of the better Brown Ales around but not quite as good as Prairie Okie though (in my opinion), but that one is barrel-aged.

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