My wife and I forced ourselves to drink these two beers side by side and compared notes on what we thought. No, don’t envy us; it’s just part of the taxing responsibility that comes with the beer blog. We (Nate and I) have already reviewed several DFH products and Brooklyn’s Monster Ale.
First is Brooklyn’s offering of Brown Ale:
The Pour-Not too much to say here. The beer had a nice clean, brown body and little head retention.
The Nose-Slight metallic aroma could be detected on the nose. Some citrusy hops cropped up, along with caramel, roasted grains, and coffee tones. I also detected a very faint touch of honey in the brew. Overall, the beer left a very nice impression.
The Taste-The hops were very much in the background of the beer but could still be detected. The caramel and honey touches were evident, with caramel leading the way of the two. About the middle of any given taste, the grains and the coffee really started coming through. From the graininess, the beer ended in a semi-dry fashion.
Mike’s Rating
Overall Satisfaction: 
Among other Brown Ales: 
Among other Ales:
Dogfish Head’s India Brown Ale:
The Pour-The beer was a clean, dark brown with an almost light Porter color. There was also a good light brown, stable head.
The Nose-The strongest impressions that I got on the beer were coffee and wort. For those of you who homebrew, have helped someone home brew, or plan on home brewing, this statement about the wort smell is very meaningful; basically, it had the smell of the stuff that you cook that will become beer. The hops were also present in this beer. Like the Brooklyn, the caramel was evident on the nose.
The Taste-Coffee and other dark grains were immediately evident. The hops were apparent, to the extent that they were present from the beginning to the end of the taste. There was a slight touch of sweetness to the brew as well. Caramel and (once again) wort were also a big part of the taste. A dry and bitter finish was the culminating point of this brew.
Mike’s Rating
Overall Satisfaction: 
Among other Brown Ales:
Among other Ales:
The Two compared:
I feel that the DFH offering was only a little bit better than the Brooklyn version of the brown ale. As I predicted, the DFH brew was more bold than the Brooklyn. DFH was darker, hoppier, more grainy, more coffee toned and more bitter than the Brooklyn version. Being that it is an India Brown, perhaps it is unfair to compare the two in this way. “India” is already signaling that it will have more hops, grains, and alcohol (about 1.5% more), so I kind of knew going in that I should expect this. Certainly, Brooklyn is more traditional, so better in that sense. However, both are worth a try.
Yes, the trials of running a beer blog…
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I agree with your review on the Dogfish Head…this is my least favorite out of their line up by far!
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David,
It’s a trying thing sometimes, but I’ve got to keep moving forward.
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I’ve had the DFH before and while it is well made the coffee taste bothered me. I just don’t like coffee.
I’ve come to see that the normal Brooklyn brews tend to lack. I’ve had the lager and pennant ale before and both were lackluster. My friend, who loves brown ales, didn’t care for the Brooklyn one that much either. But the Local 1 was really good in my opinion and I had a special brew of their’s called I believe Blast last summer at a festival that was pretty good as well.
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Their Local 1 is very good in my opinion, too. I know that it may sound strange to say it, but I don’t like when coffee is added to a brew…but don’t mind if the flavor comes from the roasting of the grains. Seeing as how grains and coffee are roasted in a very similar way, it’s not surprising when darker grains impart the quality. However, too much coffee can be a turn off and I fully understand that when one is not a coffee drinker. As Nate said, this is not nearly the best thing that DFH does (not even close). As you said, much of Brooklyn’s stuff is not that great. I don’t remember their Pennant or Lager sticking out to me either. Sometimes you can find one or two that are good, to it’s nice to keep trying them. P.S. you might like their Monster Ale (if you are a Barleywine kind of guy).
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