750 mL from Broudy’s Liquors in St. Augustine. $8.99 for the capped, dimple-bottomed, thick brown glass bottle.
Now under the name, “Bolita Double Brown Ale” (the “nut” part of the name is missing from this bottle).
Impressive, dark chestnut brown color with a really creamy, espresso type head that has nice retention and some very creamy, coating lace. Looks like the proverbial dark chocolate milkshake.
Plenty of malty, bready alcohol in the nose.
Creamy mouthfeel with a hint of acidity and perhaps even a touch of lactose character. The tastes do not give much in the way of nuttiness until the finish where there is a hint of hazelnut and a bitterness that one would associate with the outer skin of a Brazil nut. Drink more like a milk stout to me, and even though the label describes this as a “Northern English Brown Ale”, if you took this to a working mens club in Salford I think you might get a Kirby Kiss for your trouble. Way too much alcohol to even be considered as “English” anything IMO! As it warms the lactose note increases, and I KNOW this is not categorized as a Milk Stout!
Its full mouthfeel and creaminess are both the strength of this beer and its downfall. Nice, but just too much to ever make it really drinkable for me.