Brown Ale

Founders Sumatra Mountain Brown

May 18, 2016 by Steve Leave a Comment

American Brown Ale, Texas Brown Ale or as Founders calls this beer ‘Imperial Brown Ale’ generally describes a malt forward beer, a pumped up version of an English Brown recipe with hops like Cascade aggressively added and the ABV often much higher than the British original. The Oxford Companion to Beer notes that American Browns use “(r)oasted and caramelized malts are used heavily enough to skirt the edges of the porter style’ and nearly all have ‘notable hop aromatics’.

THE BEER

Founders Sumatra Mountain Brown bottle is subtle compared to many of their own labels for beers such as Backwoods Bastard and Breakfast Stout. More like Black Rye. The brown and yellow color palette seems to hearken back to an older time, preparing us for a simple beer. Imagine our surprise then, when I spied that this brown was brewed with Sumatran coffee (yes, hence the name) and comes in at a whopping 9% alcohol by volume. This is not a working man’s sipper at the pub. Founders describes the beer thusly:

This bold, imperial brown ale gets its body from a team of malts including Caramel malt for sweetness, flaked barley for dense foam, a bit of Chocolate malt for its deep color and Aromatic and Munich malts to add even more depth. German and Perle hops add a touch of bitterness to balance the malty sweetness. The addition of rich Sumatra coffee takes this perfectly balanced imperial brown ale to a decadent level.

TASTING NOTES

Cracking open Sumatra Mountain, the addition of Indonesian coffee is evident. Dave and I both felt it reminded us of the percolator or instant coffee aromatics one finds in beers like Weyerbacher Sunday Morning Stout. The picture above looks nearly black but as it poured the color is a ruddy brown. The tan head is foamy and lingers a good time for a 9% beer. What you taste is big on roasted malts and of course coffee, nothing percolator about how it comes through in the flavor. Really nice use of the java, with some pop of hops right at the end, with mild bitterness. The mouthfeel is amazingly creamy! Apparently due to the flaked barley, making it highly drinkable, and the beer finishes dry. Great brewers don’t brew high alcohol beers, they make great beer that is high gravity. Drinking Founders Sumatra Mountain Brown I got no hint it was anything above 5%.

CONCLUSION

Founders Frangelic Mountain Brown was another 9% ABV coffee beer, released as one of the more underwhelming of the Backstage Series in a large format bottle. Despite not setting off the beer geeks fervor, it was a tasty beer with strong hazelnut notes (BarleyWhine.com gave it an 8.0).

Founders Sumatra Mountain Brown comes in at the same 9%, with big coffee notes, dry with a medium body, although minus the hazelnut flavoring. I’m not sure these beers vary greatly in their recipe, which is a good thing. Offering 6 packs of a coffee forward imperial brown ale is a great addition to the Founders lineup. Brown ales, especially those with nuttier notes or coffee, are often gateway beers for those entering the good beer world. As such, Sumatra Mountain would be a great choice to try if you are starting out looking for a craft beer with a balance of flavors, albeit leaning towards the sweeter malt side. This is a fine beer, delivering on what it promises. One of the better straight ahead coffee beers around. find yourself a ~~6-pack~~ 4-pack and you will not be disappointed.

8.0/10

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September 10, 2012 by Steve 1 Comment

BROWN ALE: A warm fermented ale that is generally ruddy amber to mahogany in color, comprising one of at least two distinct styles originating from England and a third begun in the States. This is to say, not a style at all, but a lump term for three altbeir-like brews, each as different as they are similar. The Oxford Companion to Beer notes that ‘brown ale’ is “not much more useful than ‘the term ‘red wine’. ” Usually these beers have caramel or biscuit malt flavors, lower attenuation than stouts or porters, and low hops presence. Not so much a specific beer “style” as an umbrella term that holds those U.K. brews that are a step darker in color, stemming from the brown malts, higher in gravity and sweeter than milds, but not yet the complex beverage a crystal malt based porter or stout is. Roasted and chocolate notes are some of the few common flavor elements that will be found in most beers calling themselves brown ale.

The English styles gave us the name and came first. Mann’s, the original modern brown ale, was first brewed in 1902 as ‘the sweetest beer in London’. Mann’s Brown Ale is not only the original, but one of the last remaining examples of Southern English Brown Ales. The southern style, compromising low ABV, sweet ales, have gone the way of portable CD players in popularity. In contrast, the Northern English Brown, a higher gravity, better hopped ale, continues to sell well. Newcastle, Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown, and Double Maxim compromise the best known examples of the style.

Clown Shoes Brown Angel Brown Ale — A double brown ale

BROWN ALE STATS: ABV 2.8%-5.4% FERMENTATION: Top Fermented

American’s were brewing a version of brown ale as “English Nut Brown Ale” before prohibition but the modern version was a product of homebrewing, specifically Pete Slosberg of Pete’s Wicked. As a pioneer in the American microbewing revival, Pete’s Wicked flagship brew was Pete’s Wicked Ale; a brown. This beer (first released in 1986) with its barley malt body and stronger American hop presence version of the Northern England Brown, cast the mold for all other American browns to follow.

American brown ale, having less tradition to follow, tends to be the most dynamic. Many are dry hopped, and used as a platform for flavors such as coffee. Others, such as Cigar City’s Bolita Double Nut and Clown Shoes Brown Angel produce higher ABV versions, sold as Double Brown. Just to confuse things, a few more American brewers make a middle ground brown calling it India brown ale. All of these are going to be hoppier than a traditional English Brown.

On a personal note, brown ale has had a special place in my craft beer heart. In the 90’s, Newcastle Brown Ale worked for me as training wheels for friends who were instinctively fearful of beer that was darker in color than their go-to, Michelob Golden Draft Light. It was sweet, and when light hadn’t ruined the beer after from sitting on store shelves in clear glass with no born on date, the taste was so unexpected that the squeamish sippers often turned into the converted. After that, stouts and porters were not so intimidating. It was a great ambassador for so many future hop-heads, give this style a go if you are looking to get started enjoying better beer.

Founders Frangelic Mountain Brown

July 14, 2012 by Steve 1 Comment

Founders Frangelic Mountain Brown is, simply by its name, intended to be a variation on a brown ale. But confusingly, RateBeer.com considers the latest release in the limited Backstage Series, an American Strong Ale. What the hell? It has ‘Brown’ in the name and the label reads “Brown ale brewed with artificially flavored hazelnut coffee”. Sure sounds like a ‘brown ale‘ to us. Beer advocate calls it a brown ale, so why the discrepancy with RateBeer? It turns out, this simple sounding style is anything but.

Beer Advocate distinguishes between English Browns and American Browns such as they dub Founders Frangelic Mountain Brown. To them, English browns are sweeter, reminding them of a mild with pumped-up crystal malts. The American version, in their words “may have additions of coffee or nuts” , “also encompasses ‘Dark Ales’ “, and “(t)he bitterness and hop flavor has a wide range” as does the alcohol. British beer historian and writer Martyn Cornell believes differently, arguing that English Brown Ale is in fact not a style at all, containing everything from blends of amber and darker ale like Newcastle, to the un-blended, black-brown Manns Brown Ale. The Oxford Companion to Beer, ( ironically given his early criticism of the tome) is in agreement with Martyn, calling the term ‘brown ale’ “not much more useful than the term ‘red wine’ “. So, as long as it is colored brown and not of Belgian or German make, it can be lumped in to brown. Unless it has above 5% ABV or so, then RateBeer is going to call you a strong ale. Which brings us back to the beer of the hour.

A brewpub exclusive for many years, Frangelic Mountain Brown makes its bottle debut as the fourth beer in the 750ml limited run Backstage Series. These are beers that have never been bottled, giving people who cannot make it to Grand Rapids, the chance to try their rare beers. It has been very successful, with the fervor for a few of the beers such as Canadian Breakfast Stout, reaching Tom Cruise on the couch levels of nutty. Thankfully, FMB comes with less hype, in large part due to growler fills being generally available at Founders, and the lack of complex brewing techniques like barrel aging. But this is a coffee based beer from one of the world’s most adroit brewers of java brew so there is still a lot of expectation that this will be a winner.

TASTING NOTES

Founders Frangelic Mountain Brown darts into your olfactory system from the moment you uncap the bottle. Hazelnut, coffee and caramel dominate the nose. The semi-translucent, shoe-leather brown body is topped with a pale khaki head is surprisingly full for a 9% brew, but dissipates quickly. The scrumptious taste is a mix of the hazelnut coffee, some biscuit malts, caramel, and a pop of bitter hops in the finish. While not a big hop profile, the bitter finish adds a welcome complexity to the beer. The nutty elements are somewhat reminiscent of a local brew, Willoughby Brewing Company’s Peanut Butter Cup Coffee Porter. The body is that midpoint between pilsner and stout we call ‘medium’. The finish is medium-dry and the high ABV masked like so much Everclear in a frat party’s harry buffalo.

CONCLUSION

Among the hundreds of brewers who occasionally brew a coffee based beverage, Founders has proven themselves among the best. Founders Frangelic Mountain Brown in no way diminishes that reputation. We review a lot of coffee beers, and while not the flavor monster Founders coffee based stouts (Breakfast stout, KBS) are, this brown ale is that rare mix of complex, delicious flavors, paired with high drinkability. With the least fanfare of any beer in the series so far (and worst label) this one should be an easier score than its Backstage Series brothers. Take advantage and go pick up a bottle or two if you can. Not one for the cellar though, as the coffee flavor will likely fade, as will those subtle hops, so drink this one fresh!

8.0/10