Tag Archives: Brown Ale

Beer Review: TBA – Fat Head’s/Bear Republic/Stone

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Beer Name: TBA

Brewery: Fat Head’s Brewery, Bear Republic Brewing, and Stone Brewing
Beer Style: American (Texas) Brown Ale
ABV: 7.1%
IBU: ?
Size: 12oz bottle
Beer Advocate: 84
RateBeer: 95

Well as you can see, it’s Collaboration Week here at Ohio-Beer. For my first collab review, I decided to try a beer that not only was worked on by three of my favorite breweries, but also one from Ohio: Fat Head’s Brewery. Fat Head’s hails out of North Olmsted, which is a short drive down 71 from Cleveland. Knowing that Fat Head’s is a multi-award winner at the Great American Beer Fest and having had a couple of their beers before, I was looking forward to what these powerhouse breweries brewed up.

TBA standing for Texas Brown Ale. I was expecting a more mild beer, but this was anything but mild. TBA pours a clear brown with a light brown quarter inch of head that is slow to dissipate and laces all the way down the pint glass. The smell is very hop forward followed by a sweet caramel malt with a faint hint of coffee in the background. The taste is very much the same, with the piney hops coming through up front with a carmel/toffee/molasses malt flavor that arrives mid-drink and finishes the beer off. The beer is well carbonated and the head has some staying power as there was still some left as I finished off the beer. I would say TBA learns more toward IPA than Brown Ale with all the hop flavor, but overall I enjoyed this beer.

Ratings

Sessionability: TBA tastes like a mild Brown Ale meets an IPA, and for me that makes it pretty easy to drink. 4-pack.
Overall: I thought TBA was a solid collaboration by all three breweries and I wouldn’t hesitate to buy this again. 4-pack.
Would Be Best Consumed: With the hoppiness of this brown ale, I think this would be great with some BBQ.

Beer Review: Collaboration not Litigation Ale: Avery and Russian River Collaboration

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Beer Name: Collaboration not Litigation Ale

Breweries: Avery Brewing and Russian River Brewing
Beer style: Belgian Strong Ale
ABV: 8.72%
IBU: Unknown
Size: 22 oz bottle
Beer Advocate Score: 88
Rate Beer Score: 96

When the Ohio-Beer crew first discussed doing a series of reviews on collaboration beers, I started thinking about what would be the perfect beer to encompass the overall communal nature between craft breweries. I searched my memory banks for a while, and then I searched the store shelves for a little while. Nothing really spoke to me. Just as I had given up my search for a beer that would provide me the warm, fuzzy feeling I was looking for, I stumbled upon Collaboration not Litigation Ale, a collaboration between Avery Brewing in Boulder, Colorado, and Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa, California. The title itself screams “non-dickishness,” like let’s work together and not fight. But that’s not the end of it; the first few lines of description on the bottle make it all the more sweet.

Salvation. The name of two intricate Belgian-style ales, created by us, Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing and Adam Avery of Avery Brewing. After becoming friends a few years ago, we realized we both had Salvation in our lineups. Was it going to be a problem? Should one of us relinquish the name rights? “Hell, no!” we said. In fact, it was quickly decided that we should blend the brews to catch the best qualities of each and create an even more complex and rich libation.

The two beers they mix together are Salvation, a 9% Belgian strong ale from Avery, and Salvation, a 9% Belgian strong dark ale from Russian River. And as one might expect, the color of Collaboration not Litigation is somewhere between a light brown and a dark brown. It pours to a hazy, brownish red color that reminded me of apple cider. It pours with little-to-no head but that’s not to say it isn’t well carbonated. It smells sweet with a little sourness and maybe even a hint of spices. nutmeg or cinnamon perhaps. This beer has a very complex flavor profile; the first taste seemed to change flavors on me three or four times from sip to swallow. It started sweet and then you catch a nice light hoppy bitterness, and finally then it finishes with a nice malty sweetness. After a few more tastes I started to pickup a little of what I will describe as “sour apricot” taste as well as a little anise even. The mouth feel on this beer is excellent as well, smooth and thick.

Ratings:

Sessionability: I give it a 4-pack. At nearly 9% I wouldn’t want to drink a these all day, but after I had the first bomber I was ready for more.

Overall: I give it a 5-pack. It is such a complex beer and has so many things going on with it, I would recommend anyone try this.

Would be best consumed: This beer would pair well with some rich cheese like an aged gouda.