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Had the bottle of big bear brown tonight-

Excellent... Malty cocoa goodness. I feel this is what TB do best... This was everything I like about Dark Arts magnified.

Had a bottle this evening. A bit non descript. A pleasant thirst quencher. Can't see myself having it again. Not as good a beer as their other offerings.

I have to say, I've had the four specials in bottle (Red Rye, Brown Ale, Saison & IPA) and I think that as a series of beers, they are not only of a very high quality, but are to be commended for trying different styles.

The brown ale & IPA are the pick of the bunch, and while the rye doesn't come as much to the fore as I'd like in the red ale, it's still a sumptuous beer.

I think the Saison is getting undue stick, to be honest.

I've love Saisons, and I love the idea that an Irish micro is taking the risk to bottle one. I happened to have my first Lazy Sunday side by side with my kegged Saison Du Pont clone a few weeks ago, and while LSS could have done with having a more tart finish (and possibly some more carbonation), i still think it's a really nice beer.

All in all, well done Trouble on a fantastic series of beers!

Absolutely. Great to see new styles out and about.

I rated the 4 Trouble Specials:

Aroma/Appearance/Taste/Palate/Overall

Agent Provocateur 3.8 - 7/4/8/4/15
Whistle Blower IPA 3.6 - 7/4/7/3/15
Big Bear Brown Ale 3.4 - 7/3/7/3/14
Lazy Saison 3.1 - 6/3/6/3/13

Everyone i've talked to about these beers place Big Bear / Whistle Blower on top....but I liked the depth of flavour in the Agent and it was very well balanced

"stravale":2k5dcuvj wrote: I rated the 4 Trouble Specials:

Aroma/Appearance/Taste/Palate/Overall

Agent Provocateur 3.8 - 7/4/8/4/15
Whistle Blower IPA 3.6 - 7/4/7/3/15
Big Bear Brown Ale 3.4 - 7/3/7/3/14
Lazy Saison 3.1 - 6/3/6/3/13

Everyone i've talked to about these beers place Big Bear / Whistle Blower on top....but I liked the depth of flavour in the Agent and it was very well balanced[/quote:2k5dcuvj]

I still have yet to try the Brown Ale, but I would agree with everyone that Whistle Blower is top notch, a real achievement. The Red Rye was very well balanced, nice rye spiciness in the finish, but lacked a nice hop punch to break away from the heavy malt. I also thought that the Saison, compared with say Avec Les Bon Vouex, was a bit sweet, I made the case that I tasted more citrus hops than traditional Saison citrus from the yeast strain, which in my mind almost made it a cross between a Saison and a Belgian IPA. Can't wait to try the Brown though. Cheers to Trouble, truly a step forward.