McGrath, the only time I have run into brown olives rather than the green or black ones I was familiar with was a few years ago when an Italian cooked a 'traditional' Italian dinner for a number of us.

In the middle of the table was a dish of smallish brown olives. They were not as 'meaty' as the black and green kinds, rather like the difference between commercially grown versus roadside fruits. Frankly they didn't look - or for that matter, taste - as good as those I'm used to but Ric gave me the name of the kind (I seem to remember they were regional) and assured me that they were indeed olives.