Fullers ESB (Bottle/Keg)

Pours dark golden, almost honey colored with a foamy white head. Smells sweet, with toffee, raspberries and other red berries. Taste is full, but not very complex. Caramelized sugar, white grapes and some hops make up the flavor. gives a full, rich, foamy mouth feel.

Bottle. Pours clear amber with a medium off-white head, ropey lacing. Nose is big and full for a bittter, spice, ginger, cake, fresh hops, pine. Palate is big and malty and rich, but also has a very fresh and cleansing hoppy aspect. I wasn’t expecting to like this so well, but this was an excellent bitter.

By far the best premium bitter ever.. I wish I could live in London to have my happy hour in a Fuller’s Pub, drinking London Pride and ,of course, Fuller’s ESB...

On tap. Pours a golden amber with a small off white head. Aroma of light fruits, bready malt, plums, prickly pear, and very floral. Flavor starts pretty mild and sweet and quickly puts forth that seems big burst of fruits and light breadiness. Just a bit of spiciness adds to the overall flavor and smooth finish. Medium body and a soft but tickling carbonation. A nice ESB, very complimentary to my meal and refreshing.

I have been a fan of ESB for many years and a regular drinker of the beer in bottled form. What has struck me is how the beer has changed. It was once a beer with a great deal of richness on the palate and considerable depth of flavour and notably darker in colour, Sadly it seems to have lost these qualities, and the character it once had, which made it stand out from other premium bottled ales.

50cl bottle, as shown. Copper-coloured with modest, soapy white head. Low carbonation. Aroma of oranges, fig & caramel. Taste is sweet at first, again of ripe oranges and caramel, offset by a lovely, but not dominant, hoppy bitterness. More characterful than the same company’s likeable "London Pride"; lasting medium bitter aftertaste. A smooth, complex, eminently drinkable premium bitter - this is, for the time being, my favourite English beer!

Rich amber color with a thin foamy head. The flavor isn’t overly bitter but has a definite interesting hop overtone accompanied by malt and citrus flavors.

The aroma is spicy, earthy, even leathery and grassy - truely "british" hop profile. A nice ale fruitiness with light butterscotch and alcohol overtones. Copper golden appearance with a vanishing head. The flavour is earthy, overall hoppy, but mostly toffeeish and sometimes caramelly. Rather dry but not actually bitter - a bit watery too, otherwise creamy mouthfeel. Nice, but not as nice as the London Pride.