3.1 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20
2007 vintage, draft at the brewery. Toasty, fruity and lightly roasty aroma, hints of cherry and grape Kool-Aid(!) as well as suggestions of tea, spice and floral sweetness. Medium-dark copper color with a slight, white head. Flavor profile is malty, toasty and bitter, with biscuity, bready, very faintly sweet malts and prominent spicy hop character and bitterness. Slight citrus on the finish, also drying considerably by the end. Some lingering red apple skin and earthiness. Thin on the palate and gently prickly, body is medium. A bit challenging, I have to say. Apparently this is the batch that won a 2007 GABF Bronze.
2.9 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20
Reviewed from notes. On tap in August 2009.
Pours an amber-copper color with a white head that quickly falls, leaving just a bit of lacing. The nose has some floral, pine, and hebal hops with a bit of light caramel malt. Taste is slightly hoppy but pretty plain. Fairly good feel and all around pretty good drinkability.
Serving type: on-tap
Reviewed on: 11-11-2010
3.5 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 15/20
Tap @ Free State. Deep amber color. Bready aroma. Flavor has a nice bread. Distant hop. Light and smooth. Lots of hops. Lingers on the palate. Nice citrus. Bold nutty cara malts.
3.2 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
Had on tap at the brewpub while visiting the university. I mainly remember it being a bit too dry.
3.8 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Pint at the pub as they say. And guess what? Free state is good, nay great yet again.
A nice light reddish colored beer under a simple head. The aroma was bready malts while the flavor had a slittly bitter finish. A great example of what an ESB should be like.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
Pint at the brewpub with csbosox and holdenn. Pour was deep red with some fiery yellow and orange hues. Not served with head. Both the aroma and flavor are what I’d be looking for if I were sitting in a pub in the UK. really big biscuity and bready malt character with fairly restrained hops until you get the a strong bitter finish. Medium body with pretty average carbonation and a dry finish. Free State has really been on a roll for me lately.
3.1 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
UPDATED: FEB 17, 2009 Pint pour @ brewpub. A clear amber beer with a sticky head. Aroma is astringent, spiky, light but icky sweet malts. Taste is similar with light cherry as well. Eh.
I had this again tonight, no astringency but just like a bland and blah ESB, there really isn’t another way to describe it.
3.3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
On tap at the brewpub. Pour is a clear brown-red with a thinnish off-white head. Aroma of sweet caramel malt (pretty faint, this was served WAY too cold). Taste is some sharp sweetness, faint malt and a somewhat astringent finish. This one was just OK. Much better as it warmed. Would have probably preferred this one on cask.
3.4 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
On tap at the brewpub. Pours a deep, clear, dark red-orange with a creamy, beige head. The nose is of biscuity, caramel malt and earthy hops. Medium-bodied and slick with a lightly dry finish, the flavor is a blend of caramel and dry bready/biscuity notes. This is a decent ESB, but I guess that I was expecting more, given that this won a medal at GABF, in October.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Cask, pours a cloudy orange amber with a slight bubbly tan head, good lacing. Aroma is biscuit, caramel, grass and light citrus. Flavor brings the same, dominated by the biscuit and earthy/grassy hops; a nice bite of bitterness quickly tempered by the generous malts. A good one, and very quaffable...
|
