Lost Coast Downtown Brown

Brewed By: Lost Coast Brewery & Cafe in Eureka, California

Purchased: Single bottle [from Friar Tucks, Urbana, IL?]; given to me by my girlfriend, 2011

Style/ABV: American Brown Ale, 5.0%

The BJCP guidelines define today's beer as an American Brown Ale. A style of beer that should be malty, with possible bitterness. At the end of the day the BJCP are just guidelines, so I'll let today's beer define itself. One thing is certain though: brown ales are one of the most misunderstood styles of beer along with dry stouts. There is something about dark beers and people expecting something that is going to be heavy or difficult to drink. Brown ales are not a heavy style of beer, and they are supposed to be very drinkable. In fact, a Brown Ale is more along the lines of a pale or amber ale than a stout or porter.

Picasso meets prohibition

Presentation begins with the bottle, and the bottle in question has some pretty cool artwork. A kind of Picasso-esque, Prohibition-era picture occupies the front of the bottle. It's very animated artwork, and growing up with Chicago in my backyard, I can feel the city vibe. The beer pours with a nice one-finger tan head. The head dissolves down to about one centimeter, and sticks around for the long haul. The beer is pretty dark and you cannot see through it. Under certain light it might give off the impression that it is dark brown or black, but when you shine light through the glass the beer is clearly reddish-brown. I cannot see carbonation in the beer due to the murky nature of the body, but the lasting head is a good indicator that this beer is well carbonated.

Upon pouring the beer I was hit with a lot of malty aromas. It is always a good sign when you are greeted with huge aromas before you go out of your way to smell the beer. I pick up a lot of sweet malt on the nose, some chocolate, and some roasted or burnt toast. The toasted quality comes through in the taste with some big bready and toasty flavors. I do mean toast, as in the stuff that comes out of the toaster. Bread goes in, toast comes out, and now you can use a common food item to describe your beer. This isn't just toast though. I get a lot of sweet malts, some burnt or roasted flavors, and some nuttiness. I'm not really pulling the chocolate out of the taste like I did in the aroma. I'm also not getting any notable hops.
 

The mouthfeel is carbonated and the body is medium which results in a medium-full body and moderate depth. In other words, this isn't heavy but has a lot more depth than say Newcastle Brown Ale.

The beer is deceptively darker in low light.

The front end is carbonated and crisp, with a sweet malt bite; the middle is smooth and full of caramel and toast; the back end gives way to more toast and roast and finishes slightly dry. At 5.0% ABV this is a pretty drinkable beer; I could see myself having 2 or 3 of these in one sitting. And it appears that one of these clocks in at around 160 calories, which isn't that bad at all.  

Rating: Above-Average

Score: 80%

I really enjoyed this beer. Being a brown ale and all, this is a flavorful but lighter beer that you can drink two or three and still feel like a champion. In fact, if you check out the Lost Coast Brewery website you will see that they say this about their Downtown Brown: "A smooth, full-bodied nut brown ale, lightly hopped with a hint of roasted and crystal malts. This ale is dark in color without the heavy taste of porter or stout." 

So why is this Above-Average? For a Brown Ale and a 5% ABV beer, this has good depth and a moderately full body. The nose was super malty and the body hit those toasted notes home. I've only had a handful of Brown Ales, but I have no specific complaints with this beer.