Arcadia Nut Brown Ale

Arcadia Nut Brown Ale
Battle Creek, MI
5.6% ABV

Arcadia always seems to be one of the "also-ran" breweries in Michigan. Having Founders and Bells within easy proximity, and selling beers in all the same stores probably doesn't help. They're still quite small, but they make some nice beers, with a few standouts. Is their Nut Brown one of the former or the latter? Let's see.

Appearance is meh. Brownish-orange (orange? just a slight tinge), slightly hazy, with a very minimal head. Aroma is definitely interesting, with a slightly fruity smell mixing in with the expected nuttiness and sweet malt. Could be an ester produced from the yeast?

Taste is very much standard for a brown, sweet nutty maltiness with a slightly drying finish. Some citrus, quite a bit of yeasty qualities. Ultimately this is one of Arcadia's meh efforts for me -- but then again I'm hardly the target audience for this beer. They've proven they can make amazing high-gravity beer geek beers with their Cereal Killer and others; this beer is meant to be an inoffensive, easily-consumed ale for those looking for an alternative to BMC. On that level, it works well.

My overall BA rating: 3.5/5