World Brews - Barrel Trolley Nut Brown Ale

I swear, at first I thought this was a New York brew. I don't know why, I just looked in the freezer at Total Wine and saw this, thinking "I haven't had anything from New York in a while."

Nope! Not only is it out of California, it's World Brews-brewed. Their novelty products disappointed me, let's see how this goes.

On first pour, its appearance is a deep, dark, but clear brown; if you didn't hold it up to the light you'd mistake it for a stout. The head is thin and firm, but fades away quickly with little to no lacing of foam remaining on the glass.  A little foam ring lingers on the lip of the beer due to the carbonation. Its strange that a beer with such strong carbonation doesn't have a thicker head.

It smells clean, but with a little agitation of the brew you can pick up the malt sweetness and the nuttiness in the bouquet. Swirl it around a little in your glass, you'll see. The taste is strongly hazelnut with some pine nut and pecan notes. There are also maple and caramel notes from the malt, but it's easy to miss because of the strength of the nuttiness. It's moderately bodied, it's not heavy but it's not so dry and crisp overall. There is some bite to it, and it does have a dry sensation just before the finish, but the nuttiness resumes in the very end and lingers in the mouth, with the carbonation.

It's a decent brew, and proof that World Brews can make a quality product. It's good, but it's not great. I like brown ales, but personally I wouldn't go out of my way to stock up on this. If you like really really nutty brown ales, Barrel Trolley Nut Brown Ale will be satisfactory.

World Brews - Dieselpunk IPA

From the Dieselpunk Brew website: "Once, ours was a dark metropolis rife with corruption and urban decay; our soot-covered city needed to be restored. Fueled with inspiration, we look to what the future holds in our new city — our vision inevitably tainted by a layer of grime. Fuel your vision with Dieselpunk Engineered Ales."

It's a good mission statement, I'll give 'em that. World Brews out of Novato, CA also produced a porter and a stout in their line of Dieselpunk Brews, dark ales for an industrialized world. Haven't tried those, couldn't say anything about their quality. But their IPA, is it a good brew?

On first pour you can see it has a thick, prominent head. I don't know whether you can really avoid that with every pour. It has a dark copper color, nearly red, and you can pick up right away the bouquet. It's sweet, like honey and apples; that may be the hops. Normally there'd be a citris-y quality, but not this time, or if it's there I couldn't taste it. The hoppiness starts off strong, but mellows out with every drink, and has a heavy, bittersweet finish. I really couldn't pick up any malty sweetness. I've had better IPAs. I'm damning it with faint praise by saying it's got novalty value. It's drinkable, and it'd be acceptable for anybody that has a steampunk/dieselpunk theme going at a sci-fi convention. The box art and the bottlecap even has the Rocketeer's helmet as part of the design, I gotta give 'em credit for that. But personally, if you're looking for a good IPA, then I'd tell you to put this back on the shelf.

Photo credits - Dieselpunk IPA, source: monarch-beverage.com. Bottlecap photo, source: untappd.com