Spring beers: Howe Sound "Rail Ale" Nut Brown

Spring has sprung, although in Vancouver it doesn't spring so much as gently creep along uphill, with the occasional 20-degree sunny day followed by a week of rain and hailstones. (Apologies to my friends and family in Ontario, who had a blizzard the other day.) Still, the season is here, and as seasons change I find my beer tastes change right along with them.

Spring is a time of transition between winter and summer, and for me, spring beers play that same role. A good spring beer should help drinkers transition between the big, malty flavours of winter (stouts, porters, etc.) and the lighter, more refreshing beers of summer (hefeweizens, light lagers, witbiers, pale ales). So as if by instinct I've lost interest in imperial stouts and spicy pumpkin ales, and find myself loading up my fridge with brown ales, doppelbocks, and flavourful Belgian treats.

I'm trying to acquaint myself with the beers produced in my new home, so I've been making selections from an assortment of regional breweries. And I'll be sharing here anything I particularly like. So, today's selection, from Howe Sound Brewing, is their Rail Ale Nut Brown.

Perspective hides the fact that this bottle
is friggin' enormous.

I've been on a real nut brown kick for the past couple of weeks. I already tried Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale, and at a pub I tried the one from Dead Frog. So even though I've already had a couple of Howe Sound's offerings back in Toronto, I was still drawn to their familiar distinctive gigantic bottle.

Open up a Rail Ale, and the aroma smacks you with a load of MMMM. Malty and nutty, with hints of sweet coffee and molasses, it's quite potent for a lower-alcohol beer. (OK, it's 5%. To someone like me, who will always choose the bottle with "imperial" on it, that's pretty low.) Made me want to drink it straight out of the bottle. But something like this, you have to pour.

As you can see from the picture, it's a lovely deep brown. A thick, creamy white head wells up, but it soon settles down to reasonable levels and sticks around for a while. 

It tastes not at all bitter, and yet not overly sweet. Well-balanced. Flavours of coffee and burnt brown sugar dominate, with a hint of licorice in the background. The body is surprisingly thin for the rich aroma and flavours it gives off, but then, I typically drink bigger beers. Not too bubbly, despite the initial swell of foam at the pour. And like any dark beer, the aromas and flavours really come out as the beer warms up. 

Pairs nicely with a hearty and colourful meal.
Spaghetti and meatballs!

Howe Sound did a great job of this one. It would have been nice to get it at the LCBO, but I guess there have to be special privileges for being nearer to the brewery. (And significant downsides being far away from it. Oh, Bellwoods, how I miss you...) All told, a fine example of a nut brown ale. 

My only real complaint with Howe Sound is their bottles. As I mentioned before, they're gigantic - everything but their barleywine is a full litre.

One Howe Sound bottle can hold
three Yetis.
That's a big bottle!

This makes it quite difficult to open one unless you're having a party, and even then the party has to be full of beer lovers. (I held onto a bottle of Pothole Filler for ages until we had three guests who specifically loved stout. It was still hard to finish.) They come with the handy ceramic cap to re-seal it, but still I can't help but feel like it that might stop people from buying their beer.

That said, I opened the Rail Ale for just me and Darrell, and we had no trouble finishing it off. Actually, I wouldn't mind a bit more right now.

Nice work, Howe Sound.

To continue on the brown ale kick, I'll soon be brewing one up with my uncle - my first all-grain brew. Stay tuned.