Review: Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale

Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale After moving to Colorado, what many call the beer capital of the United States, I discovered something very upsetting: There aren’t true Multitaps in the mountains. The most extensive selection any non-brewery has out here on-tap: Five. Always, 2 of those are New Belgium’s Fat Tire (based in Ft. Collins) and Coors Light (Coors is located in Golden, CO, just outside of Denver). Sadly, in the state of more than 80 microbreweries, no one has any other micro on tap.

Alas, to sate my need for a beer with an actual malt flavor, and having no car here, I purchased a bottle of Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown; not regional, I know, but it was the best I could do.

Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale - 5.0% 31 IBU

This beer pours with a thick 3 finger head, but it fades fairly quickly. This head releases a nice, earthy, deciduous aroma. This lessens as the head fades leaving a light aroma that compliments the flavor while sipping nicely.

Even after the large head falls, the beer is a bit more carbonated than I like for this style. I’m not exactly sure if drinking this beer at 9k feet would affect that, but if I had everything in the world my way, I’d like a little less CO2.

It tastes like a typical Nut Brown does: a very woody and sweet malt flavor. The dark roasted malts you find in such beers are very prevalent and if you’re ever trying to teach someone what individual malts and roasts contribute to flavor, this would be a great way to isolate darker varieties.

Suprising me, this beer finished much cleaner than you average nut brown would. I find they tend to linger a bit longer than most beers, but this cleaned up quite quickly. The carbonation may have had something to do with that, but the effect was creating a very drinkable beer. and by the end of my imperial pint, I found myself wanting more.

This is a great example of an English Brown ale, more so, I think, than Newcastle BA. I enjoyed it and would love to try a draft of it.