Humboldt Brown Ale

Well once again it's been a little while since I've eeked out one of these wonderful beer related ramblings, and what better way to start out than first reviewing a beer I felt was definitely not worth the money. The beer being Humboldt Brown ale brewed with hemp. Why brewed with hemp? Well I don't know if it was just an exercise in another type of bittering agent in the brewing process or what, but I can say at least from my perspective it was not worth it. The beer has a nice slightly floral smell about it if you first get a wiff, nothing that's going to jump right out of the bottle and bite your nose. Now this ale is stated as being a brown ale, but it tastes extremely light. Like it makes a blonde ale look like it's packing a pair, and giving a mikes hard lemonade a run for it's money. For all those who love the latter drink I would apologize, but I've tasted it so I'm not going to. As a rule of thumb for a brown ale I'd choose one widely available with a decent taste. So let's compare it to a Moose Drool, while I taste a slightly sweet, small amount of maltiness, basically it has a good definite flavor. This one tastes very light with a slightly floral taste as well, but nothing that even comes close to say a heather ale. I'm all about trying some kind of new flavors in the brewing process, but I'm big on a strong definite flavor. I want it to have a taste something stronger than a Pabst Blue Ribbon. If this was a super hippie exercise with yet some other lame attempt to just add hemp to something for the sake of it being hemp, please stop. Hemp may be good for many things, that doesn't mean you throw it into whatever food or beverage imaginable. If it's summer time this could possibly be an ale for you, it's extremely light to drink, and it ways in at about 5.7%alc so it actually weighs in a lot stronger than it tastes. Now I know my taste buds are not necessarily the linch pin for societies taste so if your interested this beer is fairly widespread. I bought this one at Top Foods, but I've seen it at Fred Meyer, and just about every specialty beer store. Also on the other hand I do not believe it was that expensive for a microbrew, so if your trying to save may be one to try. For me though this beer was a big flop, a brown with a strange flavor I had some high asperations, that crashed like a fiery plane wreckage. For those of you who are super hemp fans, it may be your holy grail.