Manns Brown Ale
Available filtered and pasteurised in bottles and cans.
Previously brewed by Burtonwood for Ushers (Refresh UK).
Manns Brown Ale has been brewed in Britain since 1902, originally by Thomas Wells Thorpe who was the head brewer of Manns in London. He envisaged the opportunity to move away from IPA and brown stout and create a new beer, claimed to be "the sweetest beer in London". Brewed to the original Manns recipe, this 2.8% ABV ale is now brewed by Thomas Hardy at Burtonwood, it remains the most widely distributed brand of the original style of sweet, low gravity brown ale.
Previously brewed by Burtonwood for Ushers (Refresh UK).
Manns Brown Ale has been brewed in Britain since 1902, originally by Thomas Wells Thorpe who was the head brewer of Manns in London. He envisaged the opportunity to move away from IPA and brown stout and create a new beer, claimed to be "the sweetest beer in London". Brewed to the original Manns recipe, this 2.8% ABV ale is now brewed by Thomas Hardy at Burtonwood, it remains the most widely distributed brand of the original style of sweet, low gravity brown ale.
2.8
209 reviews
Burton-on-Trent, England
Community reviews
Bottle, from historic notes. Source not recorded. Poured mid-brown with a small off-white head. Aroma of malt, caramel, light roasting, a little chocolate and dark fruit. Medium plus sweetness, light bitterness. Light body, watery texture, average carbonation. Bit insipid.
Brown appearance. Aroma is malt and brown sugar. Flavour is smooth, biscuit, malt, tea and liquorice.
a bottle last night at the New Inn, Tywardreath. Aroma: chocolate and cherries. Appearance: opaque cola, minimal lacing. Palate: light-bodied and slick, average carbonation, lightly sweet at the finish. Taste: lightly sweet and bitter, well balanced. Almonds, very sophisticated, great beer.
Pours a deep, dark mahogany coloration with a small, creamy head. Smells of toasted, bready, caramel malt and hints of chocolate and a certain nuttiness. Taste follows the nose, being dominated by toasted, bready, caramel malt and faint hints of chocolate, toffee, a certain nuttiness and just a touch of grassy, herbal hops. Finishes on a sweet note, with some toasted, caramel malt and nuttiness lingering in the aftertaste. Thin mouthfeel with a very light body and medium carbonation. A passable Brown Ale for the ABV, although it is rather thin and bland, it does have some decent, though faint, toasted malt, chocolate, toffee and nutty notes to it. Also a bit too sweet for my personal taste though.
Clear dark brown beer with small beige head. Aroma is sweet malty, caramel and grass. Taste is sweet malts, caramel and some fruits. Light body. Overall quite ok beer, but little bit too light, no depth in it.
Angenehm mildes, süffiges Brown Ale. Etwas Röstaromen, etwas Malz. Geschmacksprofil passt zum Duft.
The colour is deep brown and promises something wonderful - which, alas, does not materialise. There is a malty, sweet, even slightly roasty nose... but it's somewhat faint. The taste is even thinner, almost like a badly made n/a.
Bottle 500 ml ABV 2.8 % from Morrisons, Acton. Aroma of malts, earth, caramel and subtle grass. Pours a dark brown body with a beige head. Taste is roasted malts, caramel, earth, mild coffee and dark fruit or berries. Creamy palate. Good ale for its low alcohol content.
Gedronken met Benzai. Diep donkerbruin bier. Aroma van koffie. Het heeft de smaak van slappe koude koffie. Weinig nasmaak.
Bottle @ home. Nice brown color with a red glare coming through, medium sized light brown colored head that diminishes fairly quickly. Aroma is quite malty, caramalts, caramel and dark raisins. Taste malts, caramel, lightly chocolate malt, quite sweet, dark raisins again. Low to average body and carbonation, yet suitable for the beer. Not bad.
Bottle at home from Morrisons. Well chilled and a good pour into the tankard. A head and lots of lacing combined with a rather pleasing colour; a deep chestnut brown. The taste was that of a slightly watered down, but tasty brown ale. I am a bit of a fan of well made low abv beers and this ticked all of the boxes for me. To have all the true brown ale flavours and mouthfeel in beer below 3% takes some skill. I have a suspicion that this doesn't want to be served warm. Anyway, bravo to the brewers and a perfect accompaniment to watching Happy! on Netflix.
275ml bottle into glass. Red/brown beer with thin bubbly head. Sweet malt nose. Peppery, zingy but really, really light. Old fashioned quaffer.
Dear god. Sweet, so sweet. A bit bread, a lot caramel but it’s bloody awful stuff.
275ml bottle, poured into a tasting glass. Dark brown tan head sweet chocolatey malts. Bored me to tears
500ml bottle from Pop Inn, Reading. Brown colour with beige head. Sweet bready malt, brown bread, light citrus, light caramel, light dark fruits.
Bottle. Pours dark brown with a decent head. Out of fridge and a bit cold at first. On warming there are some decent aromas, caramel, a bit of toffee, light fruits. Some depth here for the low abv and although is quite sweet the finish is short and dry.
Literally, pure dishwater swill. Tasteless, pathetic brown ale. Cheap but absolutely no point in drinking. Unsure if draught is an improvement, but I doubt it.
(500 ml bottle) Manns Brown Ale is the archetypal beer of the British working class, and enjoys association with the colliers of the North. At a mere 2.3%, this beer was not only cheap, but also highly refreshing in very large quantities.
Pours a crystal-clear ruby to dark mahogany-brown, with fine carbonation, and a thin tan head. The aroma is entirely malty: chocolate, coffee, beef, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, raisins, cinnamon, smoked oak, nuts, caramel, and a hint of plums. There's a strong taste of copper on the finish, which is unfortunate. Light, smooth, and refreshing, but just a little watery.
This beer is pleasant, and largely underrated. Although improvements could be made, the brewer has achieved an impressive depth of flavour at such a low gravity.
Bottle. BBE Aug 2018; Drank Oct 2017 - Clear reddish brown in colour. Medium foamy beige head. Malty; toasty malts, toffee, brown sugar, nutty, hint of coffee, slight chocolate notes. Fruity; dark fruit notes. Sweet malty mild brown ale. Not surprisingly it is thin bodied but it is quite tasty considering its very low ABV. It is a classic, which I fondly remember drinking in "brown and mild" bottle and cask ale mixes many years ago. So for me, it is both a pleasant easy drinking ale and a time machine for a trip down memory lane. (2017-10)
500ml bottle. Clear dark brown colour with a small beige head. Aroma: light malty, caramel, toffee. Taste: sweet malts, caramel and toffee. Medium body and carbonation, fairly smooth mouthfeel. Overall it’s lacking the richness of flavour claimed on the label, but given such a low ABV it’s not too bad, not one worth seeking out though.
0.5 l bottle at ’Gasthaus zur Eule’, best before November 2017. Clear, very dark red to black with a thin, frothy, quickly diminishing, light beige head. Sweetish, malty and slightly fruity aroma of caramel, sweet licorice and some blueberry. Rather sweet, malty, a bit fruity and minimally roasty taste of caramel, sweet licorice, blueberry and wine gum, followed by a short, just slightly bitter and a little roasty finish. Almost medium-bodied, slightly effervescent mouthfeel, soft carbonation. Interesting stuff, especially considering the abv, never watery but also not a revelation of course.
Awful, tastes of malt and nothing else. No real smell other than malt and no alcohol content. Nice in a stew though!
Bottle. Smells almost synthetic. Tastes weak, lightly malty, and there is little else. Very easy to drink but leaves little impression.
275ml bottle from King of the Belgains, Hartford. Dark brown, opaque with a slight purplish hue. Light aroma of porridge, Ovaltine. Taste is sweet and milky which is pleasant at first but it becomes cloying very quickly. No wonder Mr Creosote exploded after drinking a crate of it. There isn’t a lot to this beer but hey, it’s a classic.
Flaska Saltney. Tmavo jantarova farba, bez peny. Vona cukrikova, karamelova. Chut sladka, vodova, karamelova. Zle.
06-08-2016-0,5L Dose
Dunkel, kaffeefarbene Krone, Aroma : Karamellmalze , Röstmalz. Dito Geschmack.
Very dark brown color almost black, with creamy coffee foam. Aromas on the weaker side of caramel, toasted malts and toffee with that stronger aged touch. Palate, light body with thin slightly mouth coating texture leaving very sweet caramel finish. Taste is definatly sweet with hints of toffee and caramel, but not intense, quite watery. Overall, interesting, it is only 2.8% and in a way like very water and weak dark beer, and quite simple. Interesting.
So enjoyable and drinkable. Reminds me of a not so sweet sweetheart stout if that makes sense. Nice mouthfeel. Flavoursome for strength. Plums coffee
Aroma of faint bleach, appearance like coca cola,small cola like head. Taste well....like flat cola without sugar, a very faint hop bitterness and creamy ever so slightly sweet taste. Palate slightly astringent. Not unpleasant but a fine example of a beer that suffers from such a low ABV.
Typical working man’s club beer, which I drank in a typical WMC. Decent looking brown/red body, with a touch of yellowish head. Fairly thin. Nose is good, and typical brown ale, with some red and darker fruit. Taste faded a bit.