Cigar City Brewing Maduro Oatmeal Brown Ale (365 Day 209)

By scot in 365 Days of American Craft Beer, Beer on Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

Cigar City Maduro Oatmeal Brown Ale

An American brown ale is actually a refreshing beer that, if brewed correctly, should be a lighter beer in terms of body. Depending on the American craft brewer the beer might have ample hop additions too. So don’t let the darker color fool you into thinking this is a big, thick American craft beer that can’t refresh. Quite the contrary when brewed well. Based on the profile of the style I figured an American brown would be the perfect fit to the end of a long, warm day.

Maduro Oatmeal Brown Ale by Cigar City Brewing should fit the bill perfectly. Cigar City brews up some solid offerings and each time that I have another I am impressed by some how they express themselves via this art form.

A soon as I took the first sniff of Maduro I knew that something was amiss. There was a definite acidity to the beer that gave off a sour aroma. It was infected. There were still some base notes that I could make out but the acidity just kept getting in the way. I think the base beer is probably pretty darn good. The good news is that I will be visiting Cigar City Brewing soon. Hopefully I will have the chance to taste this beer fresh and change my review. Enjoy!

Aroma: 7 (25%), Taste: 6 (25%), Look: 9 (15%), Drinkability: 6 (35%), Overall: 6.7

Useless Fact: The Black Plague destroyed half the population of Europe in the fourteenth century.