Back to the land of California, to my sweet home Chicago: Newcastle Brown Ale

Having recently had a Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale, I was keen to try another brown ale from Ol' Blighty so I put on my gym shoes and headed to my local purveyor of beer where I grabbed a couple, two, three bottles of Newcastle Brown Ale, another brew that I have fond memories of drinking back in the 90s. It's odd to think that brown ales were quite popular 25 or so years ago with Pete's Wicked Ale being a leader of the microbrew revolution. Today the style seems to be viewed as a rather pedestrian beer, as if it were made largely by those too lazy to quintuple dry hop a paler brew before adding fruit puree and lactose.

The bottle looked quite different than it did back then but I put that down to a modernizing/rebranding effort on the part of Newcastle. That Victorian era label just wasn't cutting it here in the 21^st century, I figured. It wasn't until I set the bottle down to be opened that I noticed that it was brewed by Lagunitas in Chicago. Or California. Or just somewhere outside of the UK. What the deuce?!

Here's what I've gleaned from the interwebs:

Newcastle is or was owned by Scottish and Newcastle. This company was bought by Dutch brewing mega-corporation Heineken in 2008. Starting in 2017, production of Newcastle Brown Ale moved to Holland and I have to admit being surprised at seeing pictures of bottles saying so on the web. (This just goes to show how long it's been since I've sought out a Newcastle beer.) Then in 2019, the Heineken overlords again moved production of Newcastle Brown Ale – to the Lagunitas brewery in Chicago. Or California. And it was reformulated. It's no surprise that I see lots of commentary on how Lagunitas, an IPA brewery, have ruined Newcastle by making it overly hoppy. I am shocked – SHOCKED!

Honestly, I have no recollection of what this beer looked like when it was still being brewed under the Union Jack so this New World stuff may have a radically different appearance for all I know. That being said, my pour had a lovely, frothy light tan head atop an equally attractive clear, dark amber liquid. I spied a fair number of bubbles inside. Overall, the aroma was rather sweet with caramel and mild berry but I also caught some roasted malt.

I noticed a nice fizz on first sip which was followed by a lot of a little. A bit of caramel, some roastiness, mild fruitiness, a modicum of nuttiness, and a gentle sweetness. Oh, and there was also a slightly floral taste. The finish was rather dry with a little of the fruit flavor lingering with a goodly dose of herbal/spicy hops on top adding moderate bitterness.

Just like with the appearance, it's been so long since I've had one of these when it was still brewed in the UK that I really have no appreciable memories the beer's flavor to make a comparison between this newfangled stuff and the good ol' brew from Newcastle upon Tyne. While I really like the flavors here, my notes rate it as merely "OK" because the flavors are so subdued - almost watery. After the rich nutty flavors of Sam Smith's nut brown, this is like going from a Pilsner Urquell to a Bud Light. Despite Lagunitas' reputation of being hopmongers, this beer wasn't extremely bitter nor reeking of hop flavor. Instead the hop taste lingered in the background adding a little contrast to the caramel flavors until I swallowed.

 

I can't complain about aggressive American hopping here but the malt flavor left me wanting.

 

Junk food pairing: In a nod to this beer's potential Chicago heritage, pair it with a bag of Herr's Deep Dish Pizza (flavored) Cheese Curls.