 shadey (1496), Rochester, New York, USA
Oct 31, 2008 22oz bottle. Acquired in trade with snojerk. Pour is a deep ruby red with a beautiful head of mocha lace. The aroma is surprising. Lots of caramel character. The hop presence is very light, only barely noticeable. The flavor is more complex. There is both plenty of caramel, but the hops swirl in and out - wraith like floral notes mix with hints of piny bitterness. Very quaffable. Soo good.
changeup45 (782), Orlando, Florida, USA
Oct 26, 2008 Bomber from Hi-Time Wine Cellars. Pours a reddish-amber color with a thin head that pretty much sticks around for some spotty lacing. Sweet biscuity malts, some caramel, with light floral hopping. For an AleSmith brew this is really rather unexciting. Still, this is a pretty solid session beer, I just thought it might be a little better than that.
Glouglouburp (2782), Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Oct 8, 2008 In short: Inexpressive malts and a strong fruity-tea hop profile. Very drinkable but not memorable in any way
How: Bottle 22oz, from kegbear, consumed very fresh one week after reception. Thanks a lot Craig
The look: Cloudy dark copper body topped by a medium off-white head
In long: Crisp pale malts slighly toasted. Malt bill is more like dry salad croutons than toasted caramelized malts. Light to medium fruitiness with red fruits, oranges and some tropical fruits. Generously hopped with a strong aromatic red-fruit flavoured tea, like those I’m offered after a meal in some restaurants. Not much bitterness and the fruity tea-like herbal character is a bit too much. Towards the bottom of the bottle I was getting more yeast and also some undesired acidic notes. The beer had many qualities, it was very cleanly brewed, it’s an AleSmith after all but an inferior AleSmith. Not a very solid beer. If all anvils were that solid knights and gladiators would have fought with wooden sticks and throwing rocks at each other.
nqualls (1429), Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Oct 6, 2008 Bottle. Poured a clear amber with a two finger white head. Aroma of spices and citrus. Flavor was malt, bread and a slight bit of citrus. Medium body with good carbonation and a creamy mouthfeel that I wasn’t expecting.
Nik925 (300), California, USA
Sep 29, 2008 Updated: Dec 7, 2008Aroma and taste dominated by brett characteristics. Metallic cherry notes, everything you would expect from a brett fermentation. Good appearance, palate, and fundamentals, but this tasted nothing like an ESB. I enjoyed it, and if it had been sold as a Brett beer, it would have been $10 instead of $4, so no complaints. E-mail to Alesmith, confirmed they had a batch of ESB with a Brett infection, and I lucked out and got one accidentally. Will re-rate once I get a normal version, but this was awesome in its own right.
timsilvia32 (445), from Michigan now in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Sep 14, 2008 Amber pour, fluffy white head. Spicy citrus nose, some malt. Surprisingly creamy mouth feel. Citrus with some malt and caramel apple. A little acidic. Pretty clean finish with some hop bite. Drinkable, overall not bad for the style. Would have liked a little more maltiness and roastiness.
faroeviking (6024), Republica Vikingo de las, Faroe Islands
Sep 9, 2008 Botella. Slightly unclear golden amber colour. Spiced fruity bit chocolate toasty malty aroma. Quite good a mouthfeel. Flavour of toasted malt, good bitter hops, some fruit and spice with some caramel.
specksnreds (55), USA
Sep 8, 2008 The one I had was two years old, and should have never been aged, IMO. Fantastic cola nose and vanilla flavor with a perfect bitter finish. Mouth feel was off and carbonation weak due to the age of the bottle. I’d love to try a fresh one. Even with the palate fault, it’s better than more beers than I can count.
|
View Statistics
