Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale

Brewery: Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Location: Milton, DE
Style: Brown Ale
Brewery Website
Rating: A+

Dogfish Head is one of my all-time favorite breweries. Today's tasting is their Indian Brown Ale, which is one of my all-time favorite beers. The Indian Brown Ale is deep brown with some red. It is nearly opaque in the glass. The head pours rather short and is a light golden-brown in color. The head quickly fades to something reminiscent of cappucino froth. On the nose there is a sweet coffee aroma, with supporting notes of nuts and wine.

On the palate, the Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale has a distinctive flavor akin to coffee with cream and sugar. There is a nice bitter kick and a sweet maltiness that are well-balanced. There is a fantastic complexity in the flavor, with notes of peanut butter, tobacco, nuts, leather, cherries and pepper-spice all being detectable along with a hint of smokiness. The finish is more of that coffee and cream flavor with some earthiness and a touch of hops. The Indian Brown Ale is medium bodied with some mouth-coating creaminess.

Dogfish Head is well known for producing big beers with big flavor, and the Indian Brown Ale is no exception. The Indian Brown Ale has plenty of that big maltiness that brown ales are known for, but there is also some great complimentary hops to round it out. This one has it all.