Is Nut Brown Ale A Decent Beer

Nut Brown Ale, it’s an inviting name that paints a picture of smooth malted caramel with a nutty kick and a bitter edge. It’s another beer from Felinfoel Brewery in Wales, but will this beer live up to my imagined picture or will it shatter it?

Nut Brown Ale from Felinfoel brewery is a decent beer. It pours deep rich brown with a slight off white head. On the nose it is screams caramel malt with a sweet fruity aroma in the background. The taste is rich caramel malt with a slight fruity flavour and a nice bitter finish. It gets a rate my beer score of 4.2 out of 5.0.

A solid medium body brown ale, but not sure where the nuts come in.

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Nut Brown Ale Review

I like Brown Ale and I like Felinfoel brewery, so putting the two together with a few nuts thrown in seemed like a recipe made in heaven.

The beer stands proud in a 500ml brown bottle with a bronze label and the familiar red dragon. This is Welsh craft ale from the oldest brewery in Wales and I am looking forward to cracking it open.

It is not a strong beer at a modest 4.3% ABV, but I am hoping the flavours are strong and complex.

Only one way to find out, let’s crack it open.

Drinking Nut Brown Ale

Lou pours this beer and unlike the Felinfoel Stout which was pretty lively, this brown ale is rather dead. Hardly any head produced at all, and what is did produce faded very quickly.

The colour is deep rich mahogany brown with an off white which you miss if you blink.

On the nose it is predominantly malty laced with caramel, although there is a fruity aroma lurking in the background.

The taste follows the nose with a nice rich caramel malt body that feels a little dead, but smooth all the same. Again there is a fruity edge to it, and then a nice balanced bitter finale.

I am not sure where the nut is, but mine escaped, chuck in some more nuts please.

Apart from the lack of nut flavour, I do like this brown ale, it’s not fancy or complex. However it is just a good beer, pleasant and smooth, easy drinking and just nice.

I would quite happily enjoy a few of these in any pub in the land. Not what I was expecting, but a decent beer, it gets a rate my beer score of 4.2 out of 5.0.

M’Lady is not so keen, saying, “I had high hopes for this beer, I really wanted to taste the nutty caramel flavours, but sorry to say I found this a little bland and boring.” Lou scores it 3.7 out of 5.0.

However that is not a bad score for bland and boring, I think Lou likes it more than she is letting on.

It might not quite live up to its name, but all the same it is a decent ale.

Felinfoel Brewery

Felinfoel brewery has been around for a while, in fact it is the oldest brewery in Wales. As well as being the first brewery in the UK to package beer in cans.

The brewery was founded in 1878 by Felifoul resident and tinplate works owner David John. He initially bought the Kings Head pub where he brewed beer to serve.

The popularity of his beer led to the building of the brewery opposite the pub. The same brewery that still stands today and is still producing real Welsh ale.

More about this Welsh brewery through the ages.

Felinfoel Beer

As an old brewery it is any wonder that Felifoel beers are a range that of beers with tradition stamped all over them.

No fancy milkshake IPA’s here, this brewery produce real ales from days gone by. They are keeping British beer history alive, drinkable, solid and real.

The range is not vast, but it is real ale that your Grandad would love, and still has its palce in the beer world today (thankfully).

ESB, or extra special bitter, Dragons Heart ale and Celtic Gold lager I have yet to try. But here are the ones I have enjoyed so far.

Stout

Felinfoel Stout is a cracker of a beer, rich on the nose and rich in flavour. Toffee malts, roasted coffee and chocolate smack you taste buds, followed by a little dark fruit kick.

A satisfying bitterness finishes off a beautiful stout experience. At 4.1% ABV it’s not strong apart from the flavour, I love this stout.

Full review of Felinfoel Stout.

Double Dragon

Having the name Double Dragon I expected this beer to pack a punch in the strength department. However it is only a 4.2% ABV beer, so I was wrong.

That aside it is a decent beer with a strong malt body and notes of toffee and liquorice. A slight fruity flavour lingers in the background and a not so bitter finish ends play.

Full review of Double Dragon

IPA

Felinfoel IPA is not an in your face hop screaming 8.0% ABV IPA. No it is a reserved 4.0% ABV with modest hoppiness and a strong malt body.

This said, it is still a decent beer, more of your old style IPA with a strong malt body and just a hint of citrus. A nice bitterness does finish things off well and the smooth mouthfeel makes it very drinkable.

Full Review of Felinfoel IPA

Final Thoughts

Felinfoel Brewery are an old traditional style brewery that produce old traditional style ales. I like that, nothing fancy, just proper beer.

Nut Brown Ale didn’t live up to my expectations (or Lou’s), but that is just my interpretation of the name. However, it is still a good beer, smooth, tasty and easy drinking, and one I will drink again and again.

The stout still remains my Felinfoel favourite, but I think Nut Brown Ale takes second spot of the beers I have tried from this brewery.

If you have tried Nut Brown Ale, then do share your thoughts below. How did it stack up for you?