American Craft Beer Week Day Three: Nimbus Brewing Company Brown Ale

In the past I’ve seen this beer in the store and consciously chosen not to buy it because of the spooky artwork on the label. I didn’t realize until yesterday that it’s a beer from Tucson. So, in honor of American Craft Beer Week, I’ve sampled Nimbus Brewing Company’s Brown Ale.

I’m sorry the label graphics kept me away for so long, but I just can’t cozy up to a chimpanzee head pasted onto the upper torso of an Italianesque statue. I’m funny that way. But reasonably open-minded I suppose. I jogged by their website and found that they are claiming to be “Arizona’s Largest Microbrewery.” Strikes me as an odd point of pride and it begs the question: Should they grow any more will they still be considered a microbrewery? Geez! All this ruminating is giving me a headache! (Did I mention that I’m trying to limit my caloric intake to 2,000 calories a day, including beer? It’s working but man am I irritable. Reminds me of a cool tacker sign I saw someplace.

The Tasting

Nimbus Brown Ale smells faintly of roasted nut and chocolate in the bottle and of cardboard and chocolate in the glass. Pours dark brown with a light colored head. It tastes faintly of coffee and has no finish to it. This beer is very light for such a dark beer and at just 5% abv you could sit around all night and drum on these babies without losing your mind completely – just don’t drive, stupid.

Though definitely a mid-pack runner, still a worthwhile local beer, worthy of a try. Oddly enough the page that is supposed to discuss the monkey on their company website is still under construction. Could it be that they haven’t figured out how this creepy apparition fits in to their corporate model? Tucson isn’t that far away, perhaps I need to motor on down there – in August – and ask them myself. One thing’s certain: I won’t let the label scare me off any more.

Meantime, here’s the Nimbus website:
http://www.nimbusbeer.com/

Here’s what the Beer Advocate crowd had to say about Brown Ale in particular:
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1103/7279

Okay, since I’ve burned through my remaining allotment of calories by drinking this beer, guess I’ll curl up with a book and try to stay away from the pantry the rest of the evening – talk about suffering for your art.