Newcastle - Brown Ale (6 pack 12oz bottles)
Price: $9.99
Brewed by Lagunitas
“It’s a homebrewer’s classic take on an original brown ale,” Tay said. “Lagunitas brewmaster Jeremy Marshall really modernized the recipe, and he’s using American hops like Chinook and Centennial to create something smooth, crisp, and roasty.” - Forbes Magazine
The new liquid is brewed with American Centennial and Chinook hops, fermented using the Lagunitas’ English house ale yeast. The medium-colored brown ale is slightly roasty with a hoppy note, the company says. We are not known for malty beers,” says Jeremy Marshall, Lagunitas brew master. “We are really honored and excited to re-imagine the new Newcastle Brown Ale using our malts, hops, and yeast for a silky smooth flavorful experience.”
Newcastle Brown Ale definitely tastes different. For starters, it’s less sweet.
Drinkers familiar with Lagunitas will likely think one word for this brewery: hoppy. It’s well known for bitter beers. So we wondered whether Newcastle Brown Ale might become much more bitter. After all, the new recipe includes classic Lagunitas hops: Centennial and Chinook. But the end result is not extremely bitter. It’s perfectly balanced: roasted-malt caramel flavor with a subtle bitter backbone, more so than the old recipe. Lagunitas did add 8-10 more IBUs, but they blend in rather than stick out.
Newcastle Brown Ale is also now an all-malt beer, made with Lagunitas house malt. Some fans may decry that this U.K. classic has become completely Americanized. To the contrary, Lagunitas Master Brewer Jeremy Marshal pointed out that the Chicago brewery uses a British-style house yeast.
He did not want to deviate far from what has worked for Newcastle Brown Ale. “We’re known for our super-hoppy beers, our barrel-aged specialties and other crazy brews, so the temptation was there,” Marshal said. “But this is not a beer you want to get that cute with. We said, ‘Let’s keep the soul intact’.” The ABV remains the same (4.7%), as does the color.
- Beverage Dynamics
