On my recent trip to Calgary, I was able to get my hands on one of the beer made by nano upstart The Dandy Brewing Company. They have only been selling beer for a few weeks now, so it was fun to find at least one of their two beer in a store. I scooped up the bomber and hiked it back to where we were staying to put it in the fridge. Alas, I didn’t get to sampling it while in the city boundaries, but did get to it recently sitting in my home office.

The one I got my hands on was Golden Brown Dandy, an enigmatic beer stylistically. Lighter than a brown ale, not as hoppy as a pale ale and not as light-bodied as a blonde ale. Plus at 6% alcohol it is bigger than, say an Ordinary Bitter or British session ale. So, we will have to see just what the result is.

It is medium orange, pale copper in hue, lighter than a pale ale, but darker than blonde. It offers a tight beaded moderate head with some British lacing. It also possesses some decent staying power through the tasting. The aroma is of toffee, plum, baked apple, some light caramel and fruity esters. I find it a VERY British aroma. Big fruity esters balanced with some nice light malt character.

So good so far. And so the big question is the flavour. The frond has medium caramel, toffee, fruitiness with a rounded fruity body. This start reminds me of many real ales in England, with its full character and unabashed fruitiness. The middle brings a little floral hop, but not much. The beer clearly leans toward the malt.  The finish is lightly malty, edging toward a brown ale character but not quite, with just a touch of hop bitter. The beer seems a bit like Fuller’s ESB without the IBUs.

I find this an intriguing, decent beer. Not sure what to call it – it seems to fall between styles, which is fine. Fuller than it looks, maltier than it smells. A bit more hop would create an interesting English Pale Ale. Seems to be an odd hybrid of pale ale and brown ale, both English-style. Creative. They have made a worthy sipping beer by still finding a way to chart their own course.

An interesting start for this young, new brewery.