Yeeehawww - A Texas Brown Ale

I had the latest Stone Brewing collaboration beer, TBA (Texas Brown Ale), last night.  It's a collaboration with Stone, Bear Republic and Fat Head's Brewing.  (The link above has the beer's history, which other than where a beer contest was judged, has nothing to do with Texas.)  I thoroughly enjoyed TBA.  It's a full-flavored, approachable beer.  It's a quaffer not a sipper, and one Stone collaboration beer that would have been better in a 22 oz bomber rather than a 12 oz bottle.

The beer poured a medium brown with amber tones, and it had big, creamy foam.  As a brown ale, it's malty beer.  But it's also smokey, like good Texas barbeque, and it has a large dollop of molasses, which you can really taste.   It's not sweet, thank goodness, despite the molasses.  To me, the beer's hop bitterness stood out.  It is significantly more bitter than a typical brown ale, but the beer's smoked bitterness brought all the flavors together and gave it a distinct characteristic.   I'd recommend getting a few bottles of this beer before it goes away, I know I am.