{"id":731,"date":"2025-01-21T18:07:30","date_gmt":"2025-01-21T18:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/2025\/01\/21\/the-nut-so-boring-brown-ale\/"},"modified":"2025-01-21T18:07:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T18:07:30","slug":"the-nut-so-boring-brown-ale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/news\/the-nut-so-boring-brown-ale\/","title":{"rendered":"The Nut so Boring Brown Ale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">Nut brown, British brown, American brown &#8211; all brown ales. Whatever you call them, brown ales are boring! Or are they? This is the story of the brown ale. And, contrary to popular belief, they&#8217;re nut boring at all.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">History of the Brown Ale<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">The term brown ale was first used in the late 1600s. London brewers coined the term due to the typical coloring as a result of the malts used at that time. While this may have been the first time these beers were dubbed brown ales, brown beer has been around since brewing has been around. You can thank the open-flame malt drying method for the color.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">Those open flames also gave the beer a burnt smoky flavor, and consumers were growing weary of bad tasting, brown beer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">As malting technology progressed and became widespread, paler malt versions became readily available and cheaper than the \u201cbrown\u201d malts that were previously being used.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">To stay relevant in an ever-changing market, brewers changed their recipes. They added more hops, increased the alcohol, and aged the beer longer, giving birth to a more nuanced version of the typical brown ale. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/news\/english-porters-beget-irish-stouts:-a-beer-styles-by-region-series\"><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#1155cc;\"><u>The English Porter was born<\/u><\/span><\/a><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">But consumers wanted more. They enjoyed the lighter colors of the pale malts which also brought about new flavors. These lighter and hoppier versions, along with the newly crafted English Porter, pushed the brown ale back into the dark ages where it originated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">But as many beer styles do, brown ale is once again seeing the light of day.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure class=\"image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/d96c4580-0cad-aa71-0920-f3823e3801f6-manns 80th anniversary original brown ale 400pxsq.webp\"><figcaption>Mann&#8217;s Brown Ale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">Modern Day Brown Ales<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;\">Brewed in 1902, Mann\u2019s Brown Ale is believed to be one of the first brown ales finding its way back into modern times. This sweet ale was crafted in the East End of London at Albion Brewery by Mann, Crossman, and Paulin, and ultimately defined what would later be known as the London Brown, also referred to as the Southern English Brown. This historic beer is difficult to come across today.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;\">On the other hand, it\u2019s much easier to find a Northern English Brown, although this style didn\u2019t originate until 25 years after Mann\u2019s Brown Ale. You might have heard of it. The original northern version was called Newcastle Brown Ale. Brewed by Lieutenant Colonel James Herbert Porter in northeast England at Newcastle Breweries in 1927, Newcastle paved the way for the re-emerging style of brown ales.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;\">Making its way across the pond to the U.S., American brewers took this style and made it their own. <\/span><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">Brown ales were often referred to as nut brown ales due to its color being similar to nuts. They were rarely, though, if ever brewed with nuts. That is until Rogue\u2019s founder, Jack Joyce, decided to do exactly that. In addition to Newcastle, Rogue\u2019s Hazelnut Brown Ale remains one of the most popular brown ales today.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure class=\"image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/e4dfd505-b984-2a7e-8b08-ec383540de9a-newcastle brown ale 400pxsq.webp\"><figcaption>Newcastle Brown Ale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">Northern vs Southern vs American Brown Ales<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">Defining a beer style by its color leaves it open to many interpretations when it comes to brewing beer today. Brown ales <\/span><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;\">are no longer just brown. They may have nuts, lactose, cinnamon, or other adjuncts. They may be bitter or sweet. They could be barrel aged or sour, or even a brown IPA.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;\">And thanks to the many advances in both malting and brewing technologies, brown ales are no longer boring.Your taste buds are greeted with creamy, roasty flavors, often with notes of chocolate and a hint of bitterness. None of these flavors overwhelm the palate. Instead, they play well together to create a well-balanced beer that offers great drinkability all on its own or as a base style for adjuncts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;\">As in most beer styles, the main difference between brown ales lies in the region of their inception. Northern English Brown is a malt-forward beer with notes of caramel, nuttiness, and chocolate, and often has more alcohol content than the more sessionable Southern style. The Southern English Brown, difficult to find today, has more coffee and biscuity notes than its cousin, and is often darker in color.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;\">And then there\u2019s the American Brown, encompassing an array of complex flavors achieved through many malt and hop varieties. You may find more American style varieties of hop flavors, such as citrus and pine, combined with the malty, roasty, chocolatey, and caramel notes we\u2019ve come to expect from a brown ale. All of this further complicates the delineation of what a brown actually is.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure class=\"image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/a50c614f-19e2-0e4a-e70b-7118809f2086-rogue hazelnut brown nectar label 400pxsq.webp\"><figcaption>Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h4><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;\">On that note, we\u2019ll bow down to the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) and their overall impressions of brown ales:<\/span><\/h4>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjcp.org\/style\/2021\/27\/27A\/historical-beer-london-brown-ale\/\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#1155cc;\"><u>London Brown Ale<\/u><\/span><\/a><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;\"> (also known as the Southern English Brown) is \u201ca luscious, sweet, malty, low-alcohol dark brown ale, with caramel and toffee malt complexity and a sweet-tasting finish.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjcp.org\/style\/2021\/13\/13B\/british-brown-ale\/\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#1155cc;\"><u>British Brown Ale<\/u><\/span><\/a><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;\"> (similar to a Northern English Brown) is \u201ca malty, caramelly, brown British ale without the roasted flavors of a Porter. Balanced and flavorful, but usually a little stronger than most average UK beers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjcp.org\/style\/2021\/19\/19C\/american-brown-ale\/\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#1155cc;\"><u>American Brown Ale<\/u><\/span><\/a><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;\"> is \u201ca malty but hoppy standard-strength American ale frequently with chocolate and caramel flavors. The hop flavor and aroma complement and enhance the malt rather than clashing with it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">Brown Ales are nut boring<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;\">As many good beers do, brown ales have come back around. From the beginning days of brewing when the color was purely based off of the color of the grains to the 1990s when craft brewers were looking for the next best trendy idea to today when consumers are seeking out more beer flavored beers, the brown ale is making a comeback with its well-balanced flavor profile that will tantalize any taste buds, trendy or not.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure class=\"image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/31f63e00-3a9b-b914-301f-015c4c74790e-malteurop brown ales FF squirrel beer 600w.webp\"><figcaption>(Note: No squirrels were harmed to make this image. This is an AI Generated Image.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">MMC Knows Malts<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">Quality brown ales need <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/mmcmalt\/north-american-malts\"><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#1155cc;\"><u>quality malts<\/u><\/span><\/a><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\"> to bring out the flavor profiles we all expect from a good brown ale. To get you started try our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/mmcmalt\/north-american-malts\/munich\"><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#1155cc;\"><u>Munich<\/u><\/span><\/a><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/mmcmalt\/north-american-malts\/steamed-c40\"><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#1155cc;\"><u>Steamed C40<\/u><\/span><\/a><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">, and our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/mmcmalt\/north-american-malts\/kilned-c60\"><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#1155cc;\"><u>Kilned C60<\/u><\/span><\/a><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">. Whatever malts you need for your recipes, here at MMC they\u2019re all exceptional. So when you\u2019re ready to craft your brown ale, we\u2019re ready for you!&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\"><i>\u201cMalt should not be something that somebody has to worry about. That\u2019s our job as maltsters. We produce something consistent and to specification every time and take that off of your plate.\u201d&nbsp; (Joel Grosser, Director of Operations for North America)<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\"><strong>Premium grains from field to flavor.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;\">&#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#434343;\">About Malteurop Malting Company (MMC)<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">Malteurop Malting Company (MMC) is based in North America &#8211; specializing in growing and producing quality malts for the beer, whiskey, and food processing industries.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">With local farms and Malthouses spread across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, Malteurop&#8217;s commitment to excellence is fully ingrained into every batch it produces, ensuring businesses of any size can create the finest beverages and food products on the planet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">Visit <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/\"><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#0000ff;\"><u>www.malteuropmaltingco.com<\/u><\/span><\/a><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\"> to learn how we can support your malting needs.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">Contact us at <\/span><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#0000ff;\">customersuccess@malteurop.com<\/span><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\"> or (844) 546-MALT (6258) for questions or to place your order.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\"><strong>Malting is our passion. Quality is our promise.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;\">&#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.craftbeer.com\/craft-beer-muses\/brown-ales-the-overlooked-spectrum-of-beer\"><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#1155cc;\"><u>https:\/\/www.craftbeer.com\/craft-beer-muses\/brown-ales-the-overlooked-spectrum-of-beer<\/u><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/learn.kegerator.com\/london-brown-ale\/\"><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#1155cc;\"><u>https:\/\/learn.kegerator.com\/london-brown-ale\/<\/u><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/beerandbrewing.com\/paint-the-town-brown\/\"><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#1155cc;\"><u>https:\/\/beerandbrewing.com\/paint-the-town-brown\/<\/u><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/allaboutbeer.com\/article\/brown-ale\/\"><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#1155cc;\"><u>https:\/\/allaboutbeer.com\/article\/brown-ale\/<\/u><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/byo.com\/article\/northern-english-brown-ale-style-profile\/\"><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#1155cc;\"><u>https:\/\/byo.com\/article\/northern-english-brown-ale-style-profile\/<\/u><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brewersunion.com\/english-brown-ale\/\"><span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#1155cc;\"><u>https:\/\/www.brewersunion.com\/english-brown-ale\/<\/u><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjcp.org\/style\/2021\/13\/13B\/british-brown-ale\/\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#1155cc;\"><u>https:\/\/www.bjcp.org\/style\/2021\/13\/13B\/british-brown-ale\/<\/u><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjcp.org\/style\/2021\/19\/19C\/american-brown-ale\/\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#1155cc;\"><u>https:\/\/www.bjcp.org\/style\/2021\/19\/19C\/american-brown-ale\/<\/u><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjcp.org\/style\/2021\/27\/27A\/historical-beer-london-brown-ale\/\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#1155cc;\"><u>https:\/\/www.bjcp.org\/style\/2021\/27\/27A\/historical-beer-london-brown-ale\/<\/u><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nut brown, British brown, American brown &#8211; all brown ales. This is the story of the brown ale. Contrary to popular belief, they&#8217;re nut boring at all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":676,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"The Nut so Boring Brown Ale","_seopress_titles_desc":"Nut brown, British brown, American brown - all brown ales. This is the story of the brown ale. And, contrary to popular belief, they're nut boring at all... a Malteurop Fun Fact.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technical-spotlight"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malteuropmaltingco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}