Poor Richard's Ale - Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery

weeare138

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +9.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Appears a deep brown with a medium beige head that retains nicely. Scattered lacing is left around the glass.
Smell is of roasty malts with brown sugar, oatmeal, molasses, and some caramelized corn.
Taste is of the same aromas. Nice blend going on of sweet malt that isn't cloying.
Mouthfeel is slightly roasty with some sweet malt standing out in this smooth batch.
Drinkability was surprisingly good! I enjoyed this take on the Ben Franklin brew. Hopefully, they keep this recipe around in some capacity.

Serving type: on-tap
@ Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery, 160 N Gulph Rd, King Of Prussia

02-14-2006 19:51:00 | More by weeare138

jamesclark

Massachusetts

3.3/5  rDev -9.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5

Poured out of a growler filled from a tap at the South Shore Mall location in Braintree MA, this beer is murky brown in color, with almost no head at all (the head probably fares better on tap).

The smell is malty, carrying caramel, dark chocolate, and a little dried fruit. I cannot detect a significant hop aroma.

This beer is sweet and full-bodied, starting with a thick maltiness and quickly gaining a slightly-sour, fruity flavor. The finish is sticky, and leaves the sourness around to be mulled upon. There may be some hops in the finish.

The carbonation is low - possibly due to some loss in the growler.

It is easy to drink, and has a somewhat unusual character. I find it moderately tasty. Perhaps with some more carbonation, and something more to balance the sweetness, this would be excellent.

Serving type: growler
@ Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery, 160 N Gulph Rd, King Of Prussia

02-04-2006 02:33:49 | More by jamesclark

corporatejim

Minnesota

3.13/5  rDev -14.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

From the tap and into my 22 ounce Rock Bottom Mug Club mug. I find myself a little apprehensive about this beer for some reason. Nice medium brown colored liquid topped by an inch or so of frothy foam. Some staying power and leaves nice lacing down the inside of the mug. Sweet aroma. Carmel, molasses and then a bit of a cornish backbone. Initial tast is sweet, giving way to unfinished grainy or oatish taste. I noticed this same flavor on the backside of the Golden Harvest Ale that Bryon made. Can't say I can exactly describe the flavor, but I don't really like it. I have had this brew 3 or 4 times since it was released. It has been a little better each time, but still not for me.

Serving type: on-tap
@ Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery, 160 N Gulph Rd, King Of Prussia

01-31-2006 21:00:10 | More by corporatejim

feloniousmonk

Minnesota

4.15/5  rDev +13.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

The Ben Franklin Birthday Beer, as interpreted by Bryon Tonnis, at the downtown Minneapolis Rock Bottom. I had a pint at the tapping, and took a stab at "English Brown Ale" as the style, but I may be wrong. Never got the chance to ask Bryon, so anyone can challenge my designation, if they wish. I was also tussling with "mild ale", so, who knows?

Unfilitered, it seems, very cloudy brown, tawny toffee, with a firm tannish, creamy head, about 1/4" and lasting quite a while.

Aroma is lightly roasty, nutty, sweet, but finely toned, neatly hoppy, with cocoa rising in prominence in the character. Nice.

Taste: Tasty, from the start, big and sweet, rich from the molasses, nice and slick, then feeling a little hollow. This may be from the corn, which adds nothing but sugars and lightness, but it indubitably aids in an ease of drinking. There's plenty of flavor, though, to cover that small flaw. Very tasty, very easy down the throat. No complaints here, nossir.

Medium bodied, medium-ish sweet finish, plumb with sweet tasty flavor, maybe too sweet for some, but al-right with me.

Scientist, inventor, aphorist, printer, publisher, merchant, educator, agriculturist, postmaster, journalist, librarian, colonel, diplomat, philosopher, philanthropist, cartoonist, linguist, humorist, cartographer, writer, statesman, abolitionist...and champion of beer!
Happy 300th, Ben!

Serving type: growler
@ Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery, 160 N Gulph Rd, King Of Prussia

01-18-2006 01:52:15 | More by feloniousmonk