Hub City Brown Ale - Hub City Brewing Company

FreshmanPour77

Minnesota

3.9/5  rDev +49.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A - Golden brown with a finger of foam, lacing ring present

S - Brown sugar and caramel malts, couldn't pick up any hop presence

T - Medium bodied, taste the caramel with hints of brown sugar. Can't taste any hops

M/D - A pretty tasty brew, I recommend this brew and will purchase again. It was a pretty well balance brew. Medium bodied that sat really smooth. Could pass off as a session brew.

Serving type: bottle

04-30-2010 00:52:30 | More by FreshmanPour77

HuskyinPDX

Washington

3.75/5  rDev +43.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

12oz bottle poured into a tulip glass.

A - Reddish brown with almost no head at all. Some tan bubbles around the edges. Slight lacing left on the glass.

S - Nuts and malts, all very slight.

T - Sweet Nutty and blueberries???

D - Low carbonation.

O - Very drinkable. different than expected, but nice.

Serving type: bottle

05-23-2011 03:08:31 | More by HuskyinPDX

bashiba

Iowa

3.45/5  rDev +32.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Poured a hazy copper color with a big thick foamy head, long lasing almost rootbeer float like head.

Had a sweet caramel malt nose mixing in with a tangy copper odor, along with some funky yeast.

The flavor is dominated by a slightly sweet toffee malt body with a bit of grainy bread and some chocolate hints. Has the same metallic coppery finish as their golden ale along with some funky yeast flavors.

The mouthfeel is ultra carbonated with a medium body.

A solid drinkable brown ale.

Serving type: bottle

02-24-2009 00:26:27 | More by bashiba

tempest

Pennsylvania

3.45/5  rDev +32.2%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

On-tap at William's in Uptown. My pint appeared dark amber (not brown). It was a simple, but drinkable brown ale. There was a mix of nutty chestnut and cashew with mild cocoa for the flavor with a like caramel sweetness in the background. The body is light and beer goes down very easy, but this isn't enough beer for a brown ale.

Serving type: on-tap

01-11-2010 01:28:40 | More by tempest

Blakaeris

Iowa

3.4/5  rDev +30.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Pours dark orange- brown with a thick fluffy head leaving sheets of lacing.

Aroma is caramel malt, with hints of toffee. Hints of tropical fruit, slightly nutty with earthy hop.

Taste is malty and sweet with plenty of tropical fruit undertones - pineapple and mango. Earthy hops bring a balancing bitterness. Nutty and woody. Finish is crisp, yeasty, with a slight metallic quality.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied.

Not too bad. Although initially sweet, there is a surprising amount of bitterness that seems to gradually increase as you drink. Certainly worth a try.

Serving type: bottle

02-24-2009 00:26:23 | More by Blakaeris

Lemke10

Wisconsin

3.4/5  rDev +30.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

I bought a Hub City 6-pack sampler from Woodman's in Janesville, WI for $7.79 in Spring 2011.

Pours a semi-dark brown color with a cream colored head of foam that doesn't stick around too long. There's a scent of sweet cocoa and chocolate malts as well as some hops. Taste starts off rather promising with a bold chocolate nutty flavor but quickly goes away. Some sweet carmel malts in the mix and it leaves a nice after taste on the tounge. Decent and something new to try from Iowa but that's about it.

Serving type: bottle

07-02-2011 23:15:33 | More by Lemke10

WoodBrew

Illinois

3.28/5  rDev +25.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Pours a clear, copper/amber color. 1/4 inch head of an off-white color. Slight retention and poor lacing. Smells of yeast, sweet malt, slight hops, and slight citrus. Fits the style of an American Brown Ale. Mouth feel is smooth and crisp with an average carbonation level. Tastes of hops, yeast, slight citrus, and a faint sweet malt background. Overall, not near the malt flavor I'm become accustomed too, but overall a drinkable beer. It just doesn't remind me of a Brown.

Serving type: bottle

04-05-2012 01:17:02 | More by WoodBrew

Deuane

Pennsylvania

3.23/5  rDev +23.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

A-Deep, clear brownish amber with a small off-white head.

S-Light toffee and roasted malt. Aroma improves upon warming.

T-Light roasted malt a bit of toffee/coffee but all VERY mild.

M-Light body with a thin watery finish.

D-Nothing bad but very unexciting. A drinkable session brew that you barely notice you are drinking. The perfect drink it and forget it beer for that family BBQ when everyone else is pounding BMC.

Serving type: bottle

08-20-2008 19:36:27 | More by Deuane

tmitch75

Illinois

3.15/5  rDev +20.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Light brown color, almost like a red or amber ale, with thin white head and decent lacing.

Faint sweet malty/nutty smell with cooked veggies.

Watery taste, brown sugar/caramel malt, but not much else is there.

Mouthfeel is a bit thinner than I'd like, but passable, which pretty much sums up this beer all around. Not bad, but doesn't stand out in any way.

Tasted on 7/29/08.

Serving type: bottle

11-30-2008 17:37:11 | More by tmitch75

Tone

Missouri

3.15/5  rDev +20.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Pours a clear, copper/amber color. 1/4 inch head of an off-white color. Slight retention and poor lacing. Smells of yeast, sweet malt, slight hops, and slight citrus. Fits the style of an American Brown Ale. Mouth feel is smooth and crisp with an average carbonation level. Tastes of hops, yeast, slight citrus, and a faint sweet malt background. Overall, not near the malt flavor I'm become accustomed too, but overall a drinkable beer. It just doesn't remind me of a Brown.

Serving type: bottle

10-22-2009 01:01:49 | More by Tone

KarlHungus

Minnesota

3.15/5  rDev +20.7%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 4 | feel: 2 | overall: 3

This beer took twenty minutes to pour. A torrent of foam exploded out of the bottle the second I opened it. Upon pouring one once of liquid into the glass the entire glass was full of foam. That foam took minutes to recedes enough for me to continue pouring. Another once poured, another glass full of foam. The process repeated until the whole of the beer was poured. The color of the beer is brownish amber and cloudy. The aroma is of faint caramel with a hint of barnyard. The over-carbonated head really gets in the way of the aroma. The taste is of a sour brown ale. I'm sure this beer is infected, but it tastes good nonetheless. There are some nice chocolate and caramel notes with some mild funkiness. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and nearly flat. Overall, I'm really surprised this beer is drinkable given its condition. I actually like the taste quite a bit, and if the aroma wasn't so hidden by foam I could really get into this beer. As is I'll just have to content myself with the knowledge that infected beers can actually taste good on rare occasions.

Serving type: bottle

10-15-2010 00:18:25 | More by KarlHungus

match1112

Illinois

3.08/5  rDev +18%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

poured from bottle to pint glass. appears more red than brown with little to no head, and no lacing. has a strong sweet malt smell with lots of chocolate. tastes like watered down tootsie rolls with a slightly creamy mouth feel. not a brown i would recommend.

Serving type: bottle

04-12-2011 22:08:42 | More by match1112

emmasdad

Colorado

3.05/5  rDev +16.9%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Thanks to Dan for sharing this one last Friday night. The last time I reviewed a Hub City beer, the brewer contacted me and questioned my review of one of his beers. Here we go again. Poured a light amber color with a minimal amount of light beige foam on top. Bits of nuts, milk chocolate, caramel and sweet malt, but fairly disappointing.

Serving type: bottle

03-10-2011 04:56:49 | More by emmasdad

hero27

Iowa

2.98/5  rDev +14.2%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2 | overall: 3

12 oz bottle

Pours a cloudy chestnut color..small head of tan foam doesn't stick around long.
Candied toffee/butternut aroma. Flavor starts off nutty and blends into a soft roasted malt aspect.. some sticky caramel sweetness as well.
Body is pretty thin, even for a sessionable brown..needs to be a bit more robust.
Browns are not known for being exceptionally exciting, but this one is just a bit too bland for me to enjoy on any kind of a regular basis. Tweak the recipe and I'll give it another whirl..until then, there are better browns to be had.

Serving type: bottle

08-21-2008 04:14:04 | More by hero27

JackieTH

Minnesota

2.9/5  rDev +11.1%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Appearance: Red-amber-brown with a half-finger of off-white foam.

Smell: I get fruit, dried apricots and sweetness.

Taste: Initially sweetness, caramel, but then tart with more dried apricot-like fruit. I want to say complex, but I think it's just unbalanced.

Mouthfeel: Medium.

Drinkability: For about 1/2 the bottle I thought...okay, this isn't at all bad. But by the end the unbalanced flavor was a bit off-putting.

Serving type: bottle

08-16-2010 20:23:33 | More by JackieTH

smibroncos

New York

2.88/5  rDev +10.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

A. Poured a clear amber, with a a one finger tan head. Good lacing on the glass.

S. Dark roasted malt, leaves, earth.

T. Roasted malt, sweet brown sugar, maple, bitter hops. It had a soapy aftertaste.

M. Medium bodied, medium carbonation.

D. A decent brown ale, good balance, but a little thin.

Serving type: bottle

11-14-2009 02:14:42 | More by smibroncos

happygnome

Minnesota

2.83/5  rDev +8.4%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

a: pours a brown color with about a half inch of head that disappears quickly leaving no trace of lace around the edge of the glass see through lots of carbonation
s: caramel malty sweetness hints of earthy hops
t: caramel malt sweetness very sweet brew
m: light bodied beer with a lot of carbonation

overall, this is not a beer that i would buy again

Serving type: bottle

12-02-2009 02:02:03 | More by happygnome

BehindtheFinBrew

Iowa

2.8/5  rDev +7.3%
look: 2 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Poured from a 12oz bottle obtained in a sampler.

A: Pours light amber to red. Definitely uncharacteristic of a brown ale. I've had red's darker than this. Zero-head. Wondering if I got a bad bottle as most other posts have a decent head present.

S: Slight off-putting sweetness but notes of roasted malt, caramel and chocolate.

T: I get the roasted malt and chocolate first. There's very little hop bitterness present on the back end. Slight metallic which I had in their golden ale as well.

M: Under-carbed (again bad bottle-theory).

D: I would say this is somewhat drinkable over a mid-long session provided you enjoy the beer.

I however did not. It's not a terrible beer but not good. Big point loss with the color. C'mon people brown ale's should be BROWN and not clear. So far Hub City is 0/2 with me.

Serving type: bottle

06-12-2009 21:54:17 | More by BehindtheFinBrew

Morinehtar

Minnesota

2.8/5  rDev +7.3%
look: 1 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2 | overall: 3.5

Poured from a bottle from a sampler 6 pack.

Beer is dark amber in color with no head at all from a hard pour. There is no lacing, beer tastes almost flat.

Smell is sweet, taste also sweet caramel and maple with minimal to nonexistent hops. Mouthfeel is thin without carbonation, and nothing too horrible but also not great. There is a distinct aftertaste of cheese. Maybe it's the curry I paired this with that causes this funky aftertaste.

I could drink 3-4 easily, but there's nothing to get excited about here for me.

It's a beer, but not one I would look for. This is the my favorite from the sampler pack (Oatmeal Stout and Pale Ale).

Serving type: bottle

01-13-2010 21:27:00 | More by Morinehtar

biggred1

Indiana

2.75/5  rDev +5.4%
look: 2 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Clear orange amber..not the color I expest from a Brown ale with a creamy tan head. Dark cherries and caramel in the aroma with some herbal hop notes. While not a bad tasting beer, Hub City Brown is not true to the style at all, this beer tastes more like an Amber or even an O-fest than a Brown ale. Caramel and a hint of fresh strawberry and floral hops. Medium light bodied. Sorry, this beer is not a Brown ale.

Serving type: bottle

06-07-2011 02:31:43 | More by biggred1

BeerFMAndy

Wisconsin

2.68/5  rDev +2.7%
look: 2 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

12 oz bottle poured into an imperial pint. No date or info.

Thanks to Beerwolf77 for bringing me four of this brewery's beers from a vaca! Starting with this guy.

A - I got more head from pouring Samuel Adams Utopias than this! What gives?! An absolute disaster to start with, nothing but a small ring of off-white foam rests on the clear amber-brown colored beer.

S - Light notes of cocoa do nothing to mask the adjunct grainy aroma. Toasted amber malts are in there too as well as this port-barrel hint that's actually quite nice, even if it is wayyyy off for what this beer should smell like. Hints of brown sugar and maple syrup on the finish. I'm going back and fourth over the aroma being off and the fact I actually kinda like it that way.

T - Toasted amber malts have good flavor initially. That goes away pretty quickly though. It turns into a grainy, husky finishing flavor.

M - Medium-bodied but thin with no carbonation. It's even a little slick on the tongue. It finishes dry and slightly metallic.

D - I don't really understand what's going on with this beer. It seems like it's either off, or just poorly made, or maybe a combination of both. The flavor is just odd. It's not awful, but it does need a lot of work. I just finished bottling my second 'real' batch of beer, a Brown Ale, that's far better than this. I'm a little worried about the other three...

Serving type: bottle

10-11-2010 00:41:07 | More by BeerFMAndy

Tballz420

Minnesota

2.68/5  rDev +2.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Alright my pour was a little aggressive and im staring at a glass with 98% head. Really pillowy. Give it another ten mins to reset...

Anyways, mine has a really big head, hazy dark caramel body. Sweet brown malt nose. Pretty light on the malts for the taste, which might actually be a plus since it tastes less like a brown ale than a lot of brown ales. Thin to med, pretty soft. Eh, not horrible, but my least favorite style and pretty standard at that.

Serving type: bottle

03-15-2011 04:14:12 | More by Tballz420

morimech

Minnesota

2.65/5  rDev +1.5%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Pours a clear, reddish amber color (Brown Ale huh???) with half inch of white head that slowly settles to a thick cap. A little lacing is left on the glass. Has a carmelish and fruity aroma that does not scream brown ale to me. Taste likewise is confusing. Carmel malt and slightly fruity. Has a caustic aftertaste that is not pleasant. Nothing remarkable about the body but it has nice carbonation. Not a horrible beer but as a brown ale it is a failure. If they called this an amber ale I could almost go along with giving it a B rating. A cheap beer that you can pawn off on your leaching buddies.

Serving type: bottle

04-10-2010 19:46:22 | More by morimech

BuckeyeNation

Iowa

2.58/5  rDev -1.1%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

Generously carbonated dark bronze with bright orange highlights. This is one of the lightest brown ales in recent memory. Actually, it looks like an Oktoberfest. The khaki colored cap is airy and rocky, but it isn't tacky enough to grace the glass with more than a few scattered shards of lace.

The aroma isn't consistent with the style either. More like two parts amber ale to one part brown ale. There's also an alarming amount of metal (which fades) and a subtle, clove-like phenolic character. Hmmm, did something go wrong with this batch or is it just poor design?

Hub City Brown Ale is the worst beer from this brewery yet. Golden Ale was no better than average. This one can't even make it over that low bar. Chalk it up to a lack of malt, a rogue yeast strain and an abundance of bubbles. And to think I was (mildly) excited to see another HCBC beer on local shelves.

This brown ale *almost* tastes like a poor-quality dubbel due to the funkiness of the clove-like phenols. Since I'm sure that isn't what the boys from Stanley were shooting for, no credit will be given for the brewing of a quasi-Belgian ale. Let's go with earthy-toasted-nutty malt and the aforementioned, out-of-place spiciness. There's too much bitterness as well. Not good.

Hub City's biggest hurdle as a new brewery looks to be figuring out body and mouthfeel. With the exception of their best offering (Wheat Beer), none of them have been anything to shout about. This one is much too thin, and isn't helped by a surfeit of sharp-edged carbonation.

Since Millstream (this state's only other brewery) doesn't brew a beer of this particular style, the obvious choice for 'Iowa's best American brown ale' would seem to fall to Hub City Brown Ale by default. Given what I've just experienced, 'Iowa's worst American brown ale' is a much more appropriate title.

Serving type: bottle

12-07-2008 13:49:06 | More by BuckeyeNation

emerge077

Illinois

2.53/5  rDev -3.1%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

This pours IPA orange, not really brown ale at all. A flaccid skim of bubbles strain to form on the surface. Aroma is strange, sweet with sulfur and grain.

Odd sulfury flavor, just off with some astringency and sweet husky grain. An upleasant watery grainy mess. Muddled with no distinct flavors. Not looking forward to drinking the rest of this, or ever seeking out again. Glad this was a single bottle.

Serving type: bottle

12-29-2009 02:00:11 | More by emerge077