Flashback Brown

Boulder Beer Co.
Boulder, CO

Available: AZ, AL, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MA, MI, MN, NE, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, UT, VA, WA, WI, WY

Originally brewed to commemorate the milestone 30th Anniversary of Boulder Beer Co., Flashback India Brown Ale earned a spot in the year-round lineup. Brewed using five separate hop additions including a unique whirlpool hop addition, it boasts a citrusy flavor with a prominent hop aroma.

ABV: 6.8
ABW: 5.4
Color: 35
Bitterness: 60
Original gravity: 1067

I am a sucker for this emerging beer style – a hoppy, dark-tinted brew with malty, roasted or even chocolate-caramel notes. It takes a deft hand to balance those often competing flavors, and Boulder Beer does just that. Resin and citrus fragrances suggest an IPA, but the color—a deep cherry wood—and the subsequent aromas of toffee and caramel hint at a brown ale. Take a sip: flavors of nuts, chocolate and caramel dance nimbly with a lingering grapefruit and citrus. Sound like breakfast? Could be, and now that Boulder’s 30th Anniversary beer is in the regular lineup, it might replace your Cheerios.
- Lisa Morrison

The description “India style brown ale” promises a congress of big flavors and you are not disappointed. The aroma is deep and absorbing, like quality soft-centred chocolates filled with orange cream. Nut and caramel from the malt push the taste onto the sweet side, which lots of zippy citrus notes from the hops do their best redress. Gentle alcohol vapors reveal the hidden strength but thankfully don’t intrude too much. It’s in the finish that the mix of styles becomes really evident, with dark malt brown ale flavors building and hops lingering on in fine IPA fashion. I like it.
- Jeff Evans

Lisa Morrison
Lisa Morrison, aka The Beer Goddess, writes about beer whenever she can and also gets to talk about it on a weekly radio show in her hometown of Portland, OR.

Jeff Evans
Author of the Good Bottled Beer Guide and The Book of Beer Knowledge, Jeff Evans is an eight-time editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide and one of Britain's best-known beer writers.

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