The Brew SiteIndian Brown Ale
I don’t have access to many of Dogfish Head‘s beers here locally, so when I do find them I make sure to get a bottle to try. I’m liking their beers quite a bit. One of the latest is Indian Brown Ale. Ordinarily, brown ales are a session beer, not too strong, and they can be tricky to get right. Dogfish Head’s comes in at 7.2% alcohol by volume—stronger than I would expect.
And I’ll spoil the surprise: This is simply one of the best brown ales I’ve ever had. They got it right in spades.
Appearance: Nice clear brown—ruby when held to the light. Head is thick and tan. Totally subjective, but it looks like what I’d expect a brown ale to look like.
Smell: Light chocolate-coffee-caramelized sugar, brown sugar. Roast grain.
Taste: Yum! Sweet roasty malt, licorice, caramel, chocolate, roasted coffee beans. Sweet. Hops are oily yet clean and complement the malt nicely.
Mouthfeel: Medium body and very drinkable… creamy thickness.
Overall: Simply unbelievably good. I will be going back for more.
On BeerAdvocate, it earns high marks with 88 out of 100 and 98% approval in the ratings. On RateBeer, it scores 3.66 out of 5, and is in their 92nd percentile. Good marks all around.
I just had this beer again recently and really enjoyed it, the hop boost really makes this an interesting take on the traditional brown ale.
I also just drank this beer recently and wrote about it here. I felt pretty much the same as Eli on this one – the hops really brought the whole thing together. I’d really like to try more beers in this style if other companies would bring them out.
Yeah, the hops are really good here. Perfect choice for this beer.
Dann- do you mean brown ales in general? Most are lower alcohol and frankly not nearly as good… Dogfish set a high bar. But if you can find them (note: I’m not a huge fan of Newcastle though), snap ’em up.
This is a fantastic beer! I thought the Sam Adams Brown ale was good until I had this. Even my wife likes it.