The Swill: Buzzsaw Brown Seasonal Ale
The Still: Deschutes Brewery
Bend, Oregon
http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/
The Drill: American Brown Ale, 12oz bottle, 4.8% ABV, available January through March
The Spill: Named in honor of the logging industry in the Pacific Northwest, this misnomered brown ale possesses no qualities that would lead one to equate it with a buzzsaw. Typically brown in color with a light tan head, everything is mellow and quiet about this beer, from its earthy nose to its bland, unassuming maltiness, to its complete lack of hops. In fact, its alcohol content, being under 5%, can't even conjure the allusion to getting buzzed off an easy-drinking swill such as this.
Says Bill: It saddens me to have to say bad things about a beer from Deschutes, which is one of my favorite breweries, but this beer doesn't cut it for me. Admittedly, the brown ale is a very hit-and-miss genre of craft beer; many of the ones I've tried have been as unremarkable as this one. Good ones are fantastic, but bad ones are just heartbreakingly boring. Look in the future for some great ones, as two in particular have come to mind while I've written this. However, we'll have to slog through plenty more bad ones together while we get there.
Refill?: If you're the type who will sometimes settle for a Newcastle (Eric Wylde), you'll enjoy this: 2 taps out of 5.