Brewery: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Where: Chico, CA
Beer: Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale
Style: American Brown Ale
IBU: 37 IBU
ABV: 5.5%

I was in a local convenient store the other night and decided to have a look at their beer cooler.  I'm glad I did because I found a sixer of Sierra Nevada's Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale, which is one of their seasonals that I haven't tried yet.  As far as breweries go, Sierra Nevada seems to be consistently one of my favorite alongside Rogue Ales and a few others.  It's just one of those where I never taste a beer that I wouldn't want to have a second glass...  Consistently excellent at every turn. 

Sierra Nevada's Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale has a rich brown color with a thick head in the glass.  It has an immediate aroma of northwestern hops and a sweetness on the tongue created by the combination of two-row pale, crystal, chocolate, and smoked malts.  The sweetness lingers, which suits me just fine!  From the website:

As the nights grow cool, the leaves on the valley oaks begin to turn and fall.  In honor of this yearly dance, we bring you Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale and invite you to enjoy the show.  We use malt within days of roasting at the peak of its flavor to give Tumbler a gracefully smooth malt character.  So pour a glass, and grab a window seat to watch as the leaves come tumbling down.

Reading that makes me wish this summer heat around here would ease up just a bit... Fall is just around the corner.  As the weather cools, I'll be working on beers more like this one and the darker varities of stouts to keep things warm inside...

Give this one a try!

Brewery: Brooklyn Brewery
Where: Brooklyn, New York
Beer: Brooklyn Brown Ale
Style: American Brown Ale
IBU: N/A
ABV: 5.6%

Tonight's sampling is from The Brooklyn Brewery in Brooklyn, New York.  This is my first sampling from this brewery, and I decided to start with their Brooklyn Brown Ale.  This beer poured with the expected deep brownish bronze color and a nice foamy head.  This beer has a nice sweetness about it along with some interesting roasted flavors.  This taste comes from the British Two-row, Belgian aromatic, and American roasted malts that Brooklyn Brewery uses to make this brew.  The hop characteristcs are rather subdued as dictated by this style, but the combination of Willamette, Cascade, and American Fuggles that Brooklyn blends for this beer create a nice earthy flavor and aroma with some mild hints of the northwestern nose of cascade and willamette hops. 

As compared to others in the style, the Brooklyn Brown Ale doesn't really stand out of the crowd for me, but it is, none-the-less, a very good beer.  I recommend giving it a try!

Traditionally, I'm not a huge fan of brown ales, but this one is OK. The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery's Brown Ale is nice and smooth with a decent hop punch and a smooth malty flavor right behind it. 

From the website:

The Duck-Rabbit Brown Ale is an American brown ale brewed with loads of hops from start to finish (it’s hoppy and beautifully bitter). Amarillo hops in the boil provide a spicy citrusy bitterness. Saaz dry hops in the fermentor provide a refined flowery aroma. These hops are supported by a grain bill of seven varieties of malt. Oh yeah!

The 'loads of hops' don't really punch me so hard in this beer, but the hoppy aroma from the dry-hopping is definitely present. 

This is my last sampling from an assorted six-pack from the World Market.  I'm out of un-tried beers!  I'm gonna have to make a run back down there sometime soon or try to find some local sources for singles.  My only great local source for singles is rather expensive.  I think their singles start at $3.99 each and run up to about $12.00 or so depending on what you get.  Most of those singles are 16-24 ounces and there are some really great selections to choose from, but I can't let beer sampling break the bank...