Brewery – Urban Artifact
Beer – Fall Bear
Style – Brown Ale
ABV – 5.6%

Exclusively made for export to Sweden? NOT Sour? This is one of those beers that gets my nerdy beer self pretty excited, but it also requires a little bit of explanation before I dive into what it tastes like. You see… at one time, there was a person (or maybe a few people) spreading an absurd rumor that Urban Artifact made sour beers because that’s all they were able to make. Word started spreading online that, due to some brewery infection, all of their beers were going to turn sour.

It’s, of course, a bunch of baloney.

This beer is a little peek behind the curtain and a quick little show that they can make any style they want (and they can do a heck of a good job with it, too), but that’s not the niche they’ve chosen to exist in. It’s a quiet middle finger to those folks online, even if it isn’t intentionally so.

Over the last few months, I first started hearing rumblings about ‘Fall Bear’ —not just from the geeks who were surprised that Urban was able to crank out a non-sour beer, but from folks in the brewery itself. The term “the best beer we’ve ever made” was thrown out, which certainly perked up my ears.

Brewed exclusively for Sweden, though. There’s no way I’m going all the way to Sweden to snag a brown ale from a Cincinnati brewery, right? Luckily enough, on a recent visit to the Urban Artifact taproom… There it was. Hanging out in the cooler, a few single cans of Fall Bear. Say no more… I had to try it for myself.

My Thoughts On Urban Artifact’s Fall Bear

This is a super traditional brown ale. Surprising from Urban Artifact? Maybe… but it’s terrific. In the glass, it pours a deep chestnut-brown color with a tan head. Aromas drift from a nutty roastiness to a touch of dark raisin-like fruit.

The taste is beautifully full, with malty smooth toast and nuttiness balanced with dried fruit and a smooth carbonation that makes this beer extremely drinkable. The 5.6% ABV helps, too. This is one of those beers that I could drink a ton of sitting around a fire pit with some friends in the fall.

If I didn’t only have one can of it, that is.

I wish that Urban would make more beers like this. Heck, I wish more breweries in general made more beers like this. It’s packed full of big flavors, while still being approachable and super drinkable. That’s something that I have been craving in a craft beer market that is full of BIG IPAs and light, low-flavor beers.

Nicely done, Urban!