American Style Brown Ale is a brown to dark brown color, the malt still dominates, but the character is toasted or chocolate-like rather than caramel – or nutlike. Medium to high bitterness with noticeable hop aroma & flavor. Medium body with low levels of ale fruitiness. 4-5.9% alcohol by volume.
There is a loosely defined style of Brown Ale from Belgium that cannot be accurately called “oud bruin”. The difference between these two styles is not necessarily ageing as many brown ales would age wonderfully. Brown ale is lacking in any acidity, tending to taste maltier, sometimes to the point of being a little like distilled spirits.
A very good example of the “distilled spirits” flavor is Gouden Carolus. It is very dark with an ABV of 7.6%. This is one that will change a lot in the bottle over time, so you might find it to be inconsistent. That the price of complexity. Slightly lighter in alcohol is Gildenbier, at 7% ABV. This one is a bit chocolaty with a slight resemblance in flavor to dubbels. You would probably not mistake it for one, but there is a distinct bready flavor shared by most dubbels that I found in Gildenbier.
Kasteel Brown is an enormous beer with a heavy sweetness that is so intense it almost seems like it never fully fermented. Then you stand up. Yep, it’s fermented all right! Beers like this make me want to add a category called “Belgian-style barley wine”, but really, there are plenty of categories all ready. Give up your car keys, it’s ABV is around a whopping 10%. It is the kind of beer you should finish your night with as most things would taste like nothing following it.
Many producers of abbey ale also make something they call brune, Leffe being one example of many. As it has a 6.2% ABV, and as Leffe doesn’t make something they call “dubbel” I would tend to think that’s what is.
Other examples resemble dubbel in flavor, such as Verboden Vrucht from De Kluis, but exceed the ABV range associated with the abbey style. In the case of the 9% Verboden Vrucht, the 6ish% of a dubbel is left in the dust. This results in all kinds of desserty things happening, flavors such as vanilla have been associated with this beer. As with other examples of brown ale, the complexity and shelf life of this beer is enhanced by it’s strength.
The last type of beer that could be grouped here is Scotch Ale. This style is produced in Scotland for export to several places including Belgium. There are examples of this style that are produced in Belgium though, like Scotch Silly. This is a style to be reckoned with. It is typically very strong with a wonderful caramel-like maltiness and almost no perceivable hop character. Some have a hint of distilled spirits in their flavor profile.
