Beer Blogging - Sweetwater Brewing Georgia Brown Ale

Continuing with the Southern theme, my next beer of the evening also comes from Sweetwater Brewing in Atlanta. This one is the Georgia Brown Ale, which is described on the side of the bottle as being "an easy drinkin' back porch brown ale [that] is as smooth as a Bill Clinton apology". Yes, really.



Now that's what a brown ale should look like. Superficially, it looks a lot like Newcastle does in a glass: medium-dark brown color, a rich amber when held up to the light, and a thin brown head. The aroma is not all that interesting, just a bit of sourdough over a bit of malt. The malt smells a bit like caramel, but I can't tell for sure.

Considering the relatively thin smell, the taste is a nice surprise. It starts out a little watery in the front of the mouth, but then really develops nicely as it moves toward the back. There's a big dollop of sweet malt that tastes like caramel or maybe toffee. There are some light hops and a molasses sweetness in the aftertaste. It's not blowing me away, but then brown ales rarely do.

Overall, I'll give this one a 6/10 (rating scale explained here). There's nothing wrong with it, exactly, and it's interesting in its own way. It's also very drinkable - nice smooth mouthfeel, with just enough carbonation to keep it from being flat. There's just something missing, something that belongs in that first watery instant when the beer hits your tongue. Maybe if they added anything it would stop being a brown ale. I dunno. If you're burned out on hoppy beers and want some light malt that's not too sweet, or if you're a fan of Newcastle, pick up a 6-pack of Georgia Brown and you won't be sorry. Since I'm not a big brown ale fan, this one would have had to be really special to get rated a 7 or higher, but that's just me.