Full Sail Brewing periodically releases their “Brewmaster Reserve” series of beers, and their Nut Brown Ale is one of the more recent (released in March originally).

This is a pretty straightforward Brown Ale, nice and nutty, and comes in at 6% alcohol. (Remember, even special releases don’t have to be monster beers, despite what some trends might indicate!)

Appearance: Ruby-tinged brown with a creamy tan head.

Smell: Sweet and nutty with coffee notes, but also “bright”—lightly fruity and crisp.

Taste: Roasted nuts, some of that coffee character, some deep chocolate comes through. A bar touch of almost lactic astringency, or sort of an acidity like you’d expect from a coffee (perhaps mocha-latte-ish). Almost smoky.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied but with a thin presence right down the middle. Finishes a little dry even as it quenches a thirst.

Overall: Rich and roasty and dry, and almost dark enough to qualify as a porter. I like it well enough, but I’ll be honest and say it’s not the best I’ve had.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of B+. On RateBeer, it scores 3.49 out of 5 and is in their 83rd percentile.