The Shipyard Brown Ale

I'm preparing to bottle a brown ale that I just finished fermenting, so I decided to compare my brown to a commercial brown. While it's not really a fair comparison, given that my homemade brew is not carbonated yet, I thought it would give me an idea what it will be like. My last brown ale was a quasi-disaster because of some artificial hazelnut flavoring I added. My new batch is pure, no artificial colors or flavors added. But I digress. Back to the Shipyard brown: It poured a crystal clear brown color, with a 1 inch tan head that was gone very quickly. It smelled of sweet malt and brown sugar, and the taste had hints of chocolate and caramel. The finish was hoppier and more bitter than I expected - a nice surprise. Shipyard is another fine microbrewery in the Northeast quadrant of the US.