Once Upon a Time 1955 Double Brown

Pours brown from bottle. Some roasty malts and crackers and such. lightly acidic and minor hops bite. Pretty decent.

9th March 2016
Tower 42 Tasting. Thanks to Leighton. Almost clear amber beer, small cream colour head. Palate is light, thin and dry. Modest fine carbonation. Thin dry malts, grainy and not that sweet. Light floralness in to floral bitterness. Dry finish. First of these historical brews I’ve not really enjoyed, thin and a little harsh.

Bottle shared on Level 42 9/3/16. Many thanks to Leighton for this one. Hazed reddy copper coloured pour with a lasting thin grayish cream head. Aroma is nice Belgian, nutty, semi sweet, apple, raisin, little earth. Flavour is composed of earthy nutty, toasted grainy, apple, raisin, little age, cardboard. Palate is semi sweet, frothy, grainy, little liquorice.

Bottle shared in London - picked up in NYC. Pours clear brown with a foamy, tan head. The nose has lightly toasted brown bread, ripening fruits, berries, faint toffee. Medium sweet flavor with ripening fruits, berries, grapes, some raisin, earthy bitterness, dry wood. Light to medium bodied with average carbonation. Finishes with pronounced earthy bitterness, ripe and leathery fruits, some toasted toffee. Pretty decent.

Bottle thanks to Leighton at level 42. It pours slightly hazy brown with a thick light tan head. The aroma is fresh, bready, orange peel, slight peach, sherbet and earth. The taste is crisp, bitter, brown bread, cracker, cereal, mild acidity, cardboard, earth and dull caramel with a dry, toasted finish. Medium body and moderate, foamy carbonation. Ok.

Rich, super hazy deep brown coloured body with a very muddied glow and a nice two centimetre tall tan head - this is a great looking beer which has a very nice unfiltered look. Aroma of roasted malt, bananas, yeast, light cloves, milk and some subdued chocolate notes. Full-bodied; Strong malt note with a lot of pungent alcohol and bitterness up front with a little earthiness and a touch of coffee on the finish, all with a very big bitterness throughout from metal. Aftertaste is relatively one-dimensional with the malt bitterness hitting hard and some light sweetness as well. Overall, a fairly simple beer that looks great and smells nice, but the taste just simply doesn’t deliver - way too bitter and one-sided, while not providing any good flavours nor complexity. I sampled this 65 cL bottle purchased from New Beer Distributors in New York, New York on 18-July-2014 for US$8,25 sampled at home here in Washington on 30-September-2014.

Bottle shared at a tasting at Alexey and Refaela’s place. Brown color with reddish hues and a beige head. Aroma of malt, a bit of caramel, nuts and some fruitiness. Dry-ish flavor with light sweetness, malt, a bit of nuts, light fruitiness and a pretty strong earthy and herbal hops bitterness. Medium-bodied. Good.

Bottle. Pours crystal clear hazel, large puffy tan head, dissipates slowly leaving big blobs of puffy lacing. Aroma is nutty, malty, toffee, a bit of cardboard. Flavor is malty, truly malty, like malt syrup almost, light sweet with a bit of grassy bitterness, a bit nutty as well. Pretty light bodied, a bit of acid, but otherwise nice enough.

Bomber from Capitol Beer in Sacramento, CA. Pours a darkly ruddy brown with a large foamy tan head. Aroma is mildly nutty malty with a little "fuggles" for hop? Med body or so. Flavor is spicy, nutty dark malt with a fair amount of hop. Hop is spicy/earthy? So not fuggles? Interesting anyway.

Pours a medium brown in the light that surprisingly is somewhat darker otherwise. Well, I was surprised. It looks pretty clear, though the color makes it a tad difficult to tell, at least in a wide glass with thick walls. The head is a light beige. Fairly rocky. Fades to a sheet of bubbles after a minute and sticks like that for quite awhile. Aroma is caramel malt and herbal/floral hops. I wonder how much my preconceptions of brown ale factor into my thoughts because I initially put down nutty as a descriptor, and going back, I’m not sure about it. The hop flavor seems primarily herbal with a minty, vegetal note, but I can also find berries and pepper. The caramel is light and pleasant. No big cloying character, just rich, full toasted sugar. Taste is drier than expected. Pleasant and easy to drink. Fairly clean. Refreshing caramel with light spicy bitterness. Light mouthfeel. Pretty average carbonation. The creamy body of a ~%5 abv with a lot of flavor. Not at all watery. Aftertaste of herbal hops and caramel. Interesting stuff. I absolutely love trying beers brewed to actual historic recipes, and I’m a big fan of Pattinson. Ratings and reviews aside, it’s utterly satisfying to get this sort of feeling for a piece of brewing history. Even though the contemporary beer was very likely not quite like this one, this is still much closer than we usually get to history, and that’s a tremendous gift for anyone interested in the subject.