Left Hand's "Deep Cover" Brown Ale

It’s an early afternoon right after a Sunday lunch, and I’ve got the house to myself.  The air is full of early fall cricket and grasshopper song, and the gentle breeze is nice and warm.  I’m waiting for my laundry to finish drying, and am craving some jazz on the radio.

I pop the top of this "Deep Cover" Brown Ale from Left Hand Brewing.  It’s a good name.  Cool label.  Hats off to their marketing staff.

It smells a bit yeasty.  My nose picks up some sweet roast barley.  Not just a little sweet, either — it smells candy sweet.

The first sip is unimpressive, but still good.  It doesn’t blow my socks off but it does manage to send a signal directly to the pleasure center of my brain.

Still, this strikes me as a run of the mill brown ale.  It’s like they didn’t try very hard.  The barley malts are on the rough edge, tingling the tongue without any smoothness.  Also, it strikes me that the balance of the hops is off.  So while it’s good, it doesn’t inspire me to crave more.  Instead, it inspires me to crave something better.

To sum up:  Good but not quite groovy.

And with that, the drier is buzzing.  Time to go pull out the laundry!