Hook and Ladder Backdraft Brown Ale
A smooth and refreshing beer loaded with flavor. Specialty malts give it a roasted taste and beautiful brown color. Balanced with just the right amount of Cascade hops.
3
225 reviews
Silver Spring, United States
Community reviews
Pours dark brown with a beige head. The aroma has toasty malt, light cream and some hazelnut with a bit of bitterness. Medium / light crisp body with semi-sharp carbonation. The flavor starts with nutty roasty malt, some richness and light sweetness. The finish is a bit sweeter with some sourness. OK beer.
12 oz bottle. Pours a dark chestnut brown with very small head. The aroma is mostly caramel with some nutty and spicy hints. The flavor is rather weak and tinny with a little bit of caramel sweetness. There’s a peppery botanical note in the finish and some prickly carbonation. Very thin mouthfeel. Not impressed.
Pours a deep rich brown color. Aroma of chestnut roasting on an open fire(ha ha). Taste of mild nuts, and mild roasted hops with a slight caramel coffee touch. A very smooth drinkable beer that is flavorful as well. Overall a VERY GOOD brown ale that is now in my rotation of beers. An A+ in my book!!
Bottle from HyVee. Pours a dark rosy red color. Very nice. Nutty aroma with heavy malts and a hint of sour. Taste is mainly malt and bitter tea flavors. Some nut flavor. Fairly good.
Dark brown-red, tan head. Aroma is rough metal, malt, sweetness. Taste is some charry roast, metal, blah.
This poured a dark brown color with a moderate head. The aroma contains some nutmeg, caramel, chocolate, and toffee. The flavor is rather dry with some dark chocolate, toffee, and caramel coming through. The palate is a bit thin. Overall about on par with most brown ale so an ok effort.
Nutty, bready aroma with a bite of spruce. Dark brown in color. Slightly bitter and medium sweetness. Light to medium body with lively carbonation. A slightly bitter finish. This one’s overall flavor profile is precariously balanced between a traditionally malty brown ale and a more contemporary hoppy version. The hops are a bit too powerful here, and it gives an otherwise good ale the sense of a dank basement. While drinkable and enjoyable, I dont consider it the best example of a brown ale.
Pours, duh, bron with a light film of a head. Aroma of yeast, a bit sweet malt. Flavor is sweet, some brown sugar, a few hints of iced tea. Really, not very interesting flavor. Not bad per se. It goes down really easily. There’s just nothing here.
Nice looking beer darkish side of brown with a large frothy/bubbly light tan head. handsome.
Weak aromas..mainlly buiscuity malts.
taste is also weakiish but a little better than the aroma in that i can discern some caramel malts. Small hop in the end.
OK on the palte, thin, but expected for the style.
Overall another drinkable, forgettable beer.
Ruby brown pour with a cola like head. Sweet nut aroma, with malt heft not present in the flavor. Thin bodied, drinkable but really sweet and inoffensive.
Pours brown with white head that dissipates quickly, aroma is thin dark malt. Taste up front is sweet caramel leading into some roasted malt and finishing a bit dry. Overall a fairly weak and average brown ale.
Deep red brown. White head leaves only a little lace. Big malty nose, lots of roast and a little bit nutty and sweet, very slightly citric. A little sweet once tasted and a little bit tart as well in a coffe-ish way. Carbonation is too strong but still light to medium bodied. This is a pretty decent beer presented w/ the carbonation of a macro lager. I feel bad for the malt used to make this. It is almost good.
reddish brown pour with a medium tan off white head.
aroma is light toffee sweetness, toasted malt, slightly nutty. Light fruity/woody hop.
Flavour has a more pronounced nuttiness to it.
Roasted malt with light chocolate and maybe chicory, some woody bitterness in the finish.
Dark brown body with red highlights. There’s only a thin off-white head that leaves no lacing. Sweet aroma with brown sugar and caramel. Thin palate with decent carbonation. Like the aroma, the flavor is primarily sweet. Caramel and burnt sugar. Mildy bitter and nutty finish. Not bad.
Pours a deep amber hue, flirting with brown, but when backlit is ruby red. The aroma is strictly caramel with a touch of sweetness. The flavor is also packed with caramel with a dash of buttery toast. It light in body and pretty bland overall. More representative of an English brown having little bitterness, light on hops, and just not enough depth for me.
opaque brown, thin bubbley tan head, med body, med co2.
aroma: chclt/dark-malt herbal-leafy-hops §silage.
flavor: sweet-roasty/§chclt-malt tobacco/leafy-hops slight-minerality §toffee T1T2, §chrd §sticky T3.
balanced and accomodating, gets along well with most people and foods.
The aroma is quite nice. Lightly roasted malt with hints of chocolate and caramel and just the slightest butterscotch. The taste really doesn’t amount to much which is a shame since the aroma was quite pleasant. It’s a little watery. It’s slightly sweet on the palate but it’s dominated by the roasted malt flavor. A slightly bitter finish. For the most part, this beer is quite average. It’s worth a try, but there are better brown ales out there. Maybe falls short due to the fact that is a contract brew? I don’t know.
Pours out deep brown with a cream head that left some lacing and a ring that lasted throughout. On nose you get hints of caramel, roasted malt, and light brown sugar. Mouthfeel is much of the same roast malt, caramel, and even a slight touch of milk chocolate. This is a medium bodied ale that finishes smooth with a velvety texture.
(12 ounce bottle - pint glass) Pours a brown colored liquid. Has poor head retention. Aroma consists of notes of caramel, toffee, coffee and a little chocolate. Tastes of caramel coffee and a nutty malt. Also has notes of butterscotch, raisin and licorice. Has a thin watery texture and soft carbonation.
From a bottle poured brown with a fair amount of head. Light sweet malty flavor with a quick finish.
Bottle. Pour was medium clear brown with an off white head. Aroma is of caramel, toasted malt, and some nutty characters. Flavor was somewhat watery with sweet malt and more nutty and toasted characters. Not a bad brew.
Pours a lasting ring of off-white head with a clear copper-brown body. Aromas of soy and roasted malt. Flavor is roasted malt, bubblegum, little nutty. Finish is nutty dry.
On tap at Chicago Ale House. Amber pour with a thin tan head. Bit of a grainy malt nose. Lightly sweet malt flavor with a bit of caramel and nut. Watery and thin, though. needs more body.
Clear ruby/brown color with a fleeting head. Mild roasty malt, chocolate aromas. medium body. Very mild roasty nutty flavors with some rootbeer spicyness.
Clear chestnut brown with a 3 mm caramel head. Mild roasty aroma with caramel and nuts. Taste is essentially the same. Pleasant and drinkable, but not a stand-out in any way. $2/12oz
12oz bottle. Pours a nice deep brown with a light brown head, which hung around. Aroma is malty, with a hint of flowery hops. Taste is well balanced, malty with a nice hop finish. Slightly roasted flavor, with a hint of coffee and chocolate.
Pours a clear dark brown color with a huge frothy off-white head. Aroma is overall very light with some low roasted malt notes, very light hops presence and some mild nutty hints. Flavor has a watery toasted note at the start, some light almond and walnut nuttieness in the middle and finishes with a light chocolate malt note with some earthy hops. Body is very light with the texture pretty thin as well. A modest amount of lacing is left on the glass. Overall there seems to be something lacking in the early part of the flavor, its like there is a delay in the flavor onset which seems to water down the palate a bit and when combined with the low aroma presence, really makes it just an okay beer.
Poured a dark/clear with a decent head, aroma I thought smelled like a cleaning solution? and first sip was a little metalic, or soapy, kinda hard to describe, it was a clean glass too. But, once it warmed up a touch, it was a whole new beer. Dark roasted malt, with what seems to be a spicy dark belgian. turned out to be a nice Brown....but wait for a warmer brew, maybe upper 40’s.
Clear ruby/brown color with a fleeting head. Mild roasty malt, chocolate aromas. medium body. Very mild roasty nutty flavors with some rootbeer spicyness.
Bottle. 12 oz. Pours deep brown with a smooth, off-white head. Full body, nearly stout-like. Aroma of chocolate, roasted malts, pepper, cloves, and hints of hops. Clean finish. Good brown ale.