Crooked River Original ESB

Bottled, thanks hopsrus!!
Pours reddish amber and rather lively. Aroma of fruit and pine needles. Salty and malty with crystal malt profile and a lingering hoppy, bitter finish.

Good beer all around. The aroma is delightful: gimme some hops. On second thought, make mine a double! The aroma gives a good preview of the flavor, lots of citrusy hops, with an adequate quantity of malts to prevent imbalance. all told, a fairly smooth beer too.

Very nice malt/hop mixture. Hints of sweetness are nicely balanced with a floral, medium bitterness hop aroma. Appealing deep copper color with a touch of roasted malt flavor. Never thought anything this good could come out of the Cuyahoga River.

Rating #200...This beer rocks!... Same beer as Blue Ridge ESB Red Ale. Same facilities, same ingredients, same recipe, slightly different bottle and different label. The aroma is moderately malty and hoppy. Strong nose, alcohol comes through. The color is a perfect, sparkling amber. The flavor is heavy in malt (yum) and pretty well hopped also. Almost perfectly balanced, although just a hair on the bitter side of the fence. Full, creamy mouthfeel. Fizzy. The finish is crisp and dry. Excellent bitter!

Head is initially average sized, frothy, off-white, mostly diminishing. Body is clear dark amber. Aroma is moderately malty (cookie, toasted bread), moderately hoppy (flowers, apricot, orange, resin). Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately bitter. Medium body, watery/velvety texture, lively carbonation, lightly astringent, slightly metallic. Pretty good stuff, but still plenty of room for improvement. Aftertaste is somewhat edgy/rough/metallic, but the aroma is pleasant as is the balance. The label only says EKG hops, but it sure doesn't smell like it...some kinda blend, more likely. Good, but nothing superlative IMHO.