Hey Red Brick Brewing of Atlanta, Georgia! You’re killing me here! So I see four of your beers featured as Beer of the Month at Taco Mac, and that’s a beautiful thing. The first one I’m all over is Southern Roots Sweet Potato Brown Ale, a fall/winter seasonal brew that’s a lot like a slice of sweet potato pie in a glass. Now I know pumpkin pie is the traditional holiday dessert, but here in the south sweet potato pie is just as likely to be found with the Thanksgiving/Christmas spread.

Now, though, I hop on over to your website and see that this is a one-off brew? Say it ain’t so Red Brick! This beer is truly wonderful, and while only a little different than your average pumpkin ale, it’s enough of a variation that I want more of this beauty of a beer. I’ve not been able to find it in cans or bottles, but if I could I’d be all over it.

Anyway, here’s what you say about the beer on your website:

This brown ale is brewed with real sweet potatoes and a blend of ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cinnamon. It sports a malty body that gives notes of pecans and toasted marshmallow.

Red Brick Southern Roots Sweet Potato Brown Ale has an alcohol content of 6% by volume with 30 IBUs. I paid a very reasonable $5.75 for my glass, and that came with a really neat Red Brick IPA glass at no extra charge.

My mug of Red Brick Southern Roots Sweet Potato Brown Ale arrived a lightly reddish brown color with a light to medium head of creamy foam and a spicy nose of nutmeg and ginger. Taking a sip, I get sweet cookie malt up front and then the sweet potato in the palate. It’s a little more vegetal than pumpkin with a distinct flavor that comes through nicely. The nutmeg is prominent in the finish with a hint of the ginger and the dry cinnamon.

To me, the sweet cookie malt in the palate suggests the crust of sweet potato pie, with the tuber and spices completing the analogy. I can see a hint of nuttiness suggesting pecans, though I don’t get the toasted marshmallow Red Brick posits. That analogy is more akin to sweet potato soufflé. Still, as Yukon Cornelius so sagely put it, you eat what you like and I’ll eat what I like.

As to what I’ll drink, I’ll drink Red Brick Southern Roots Sweet Potato Brown Ale again. So please, bring it back next year Red Brick. You wouldn’t want to make a Bruguru cry, would you?

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