Who is Ella Brown?

Last year I discovered brown ale. Only last year. Why oh why have I left it this long to discover such a beautiful thing?!!
To be honest, the title of the style just isn't sexy. Dirty old dressing gowns, grandpa slippers, dirt and poo are all brown and definitely not appealing. But having strolled into the local bottle-o to find nothing jumped out at me from the crowded fridge display, I reluctantly settled for a Brooklyn Brown Ale...

Paradigm shift.

If you haven't had Rogue's Hazelnut Brown Nectar, get up out of your seat immediately and hunt it down. Now. (It's really that good)

Ella Brown: Single hopped with Ella, features a rich caramel malt profile. Tasty, tasty.

I began targeting brown ales, searching for new takes on this gorgeous style. It was at this time I discovered Rogue Ales from Portland, US and their rather incredible, delicious Hazelnut Brown Nectar. At this point I decided to craft my own brown ale recipe...

Welcome to the world, Ella Brown.

Single-hopped with generous proportions of Ella, this is a malt-driven brown ale with loads of Amber and Dark Crystal malts with a heaping helping of Roast Barley on a solid foundation of Traditional Ale malt.


The warmth of these flavours and luscious rich red/brown colour immediately drew my mind back to the days of cassette and tape technology. At the time, I had recently watched Dave Grohl's Sound City documentary, which recounts the story of the Seattle recording studio responsible for capturing so many hit records from so many amazing bands and artists from the 70's through the 90's and it's sad demise as digital technology took over. For the uninitiated, there is an art to capturing a great performance on old analogue technology: planning ahead is key. Selecting the right microphones, placing them in exactly the right place and positioning the instrument in the right place in the room are just a few variables requiring careful attention.
In contrast, we're all-too-familiar with the studio magic performed by high-tech digital wizardry, employing high-powered computers with clever software capable of taking a model with a great body and tuneless voice and turning them into a singing sensation. I know you know what I'm talking about.

So, this beer is our toast to the truly-talented music legends of a past era, who often