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Arcadia Nut Brown Ale: Sweet, but Not Very PrettyFeb 24 '05 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line This is a decent English Brown Ale and good enough to recommend, but there are better ones available.
Arcadia Brewing Company is a little- known operation with its headquarters in Battle Creek, Michigan. This company is one I have heard about in the past, but I never had a chance to try until now, thanks to the company’s limited distribution. Eight different beer products are brewed here. And the one I am reviewing today is Arcadia Nut Brown Ale, a sweet beer brewed in the style of an English Brown Ale. Basic Characteristics of This Beer: This beer pours to a copper color with very little foam that disappears in less than one minute. The aroma combines sweet malt and nuts, with just a hint of chocolate. With the taste, the first thing I noticed was the flavor of almonds, followed by the taste of caramel and lightly toasted malts, and finishing with a small amount of fruit and some bitterness. After a minute or two, the aftertaste switches back to sweet and tastes better and better. Arcadia brews this beer using English two- row malt, pale malt, Munich malt, Willamette Hops, Fuggles Hops, and ale yeast. The final product has an alcohol content of 5.6 percent by volume and there are 26 IBU of bitterness. Food Compatibility: This beer is medium to light in body and a little nutty, so it would taste best with lighter fare like tossed salads with meat, soup, cold meat sandwiches cheese and crackers, popcorn, and other appetizers and light meals. Final Thoughts: Arcadia is one of those breweries I have heard about and read about countless times but I never had the opportunity to sample one of its products until now. Arcadia doesn’t distribute very far from its home base in downtown Battle Creek Michigan, so it isn’t the type of beer you expect to find unless you travel to Michigan or come about some through other means. This beer is labeled with the generic title “nut brown ale”, but to be more precise, this beer is brewed in the tradition of an English Brown Ale. The taste is mostly sweet and even though the Willemette and Fuggles hops try to assert themselves at the end, they are still overpowered for recognition by the sweet flavors present. One interesting thing I noticed was with the aftertaste. It starts out not tasting very good but then, slowly, as the bitter tastes fade away from the palate, the flavor of sweet, candy- like malt is left behind, making the aftertaste more enjoyable. Nut brown ale is often very full- bodied but this beer is an exception. It is actually medium in body and smoother than other nut brown ale. I found it to be good overall, but not incredible. It seems a little too watery as a whole and it seems like it needs another ingredient or two. Perhaps another type of hop- Galeana, maybe- in the brewing process would have made it more interesting. Another small problem I had with this beer is the appearance. The body has a nice color and the beer is well- filtered, as evidenced by the clear body. But there is almost no foam and the carbonation level is low. This makes for a less than attractive beer product. Once the foam is gone (which takes about 30 seconds) you are left with something that looks like a glass of flat soda pop. Overall, this is a decent beer, but it’s unremarkable and most people will forget they ever tasted it after a short time. It’s not a bad beer at all- it just isn’t very exceptional. I wouldn’t go out of my way to find a bottle, but I’m glad I at least gave this beer a try. I’m going to rate Arcadia Nut Brown Ale with 3 out of 5 stars and give it a recommendation. Most will find its sweetness and smoothness acceptable, but it doesn’t compare to some of the heavy duty nut brown ales on the market and there are better examples of English Brown Ale.  |
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