Howe Sound Baldwin and Cooper Best Bitter

Brewed by Howe Sound Inn and Brewing Co.
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Squamish, Canada

Serve in English pint

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

Pours a gorgeous red with a very nice head, visually very appealing. Aroma I find quite minimal in grassy, herbaceous hops, nice. The taste is right up my alley, a good session beer. Dry, like no sweetness, The bitter hops fill out the mouthfeel, but not over bearing. Fairly acidic. Gotta be a lot of two row and some sorta caramel malts, maybe some crystal. There is a viscous touch of something choco/cacao/vanilla something that is good. All in all, another Howe Sound winner.

Clear copper with a small pale head. Aroma is honey, raisin, plum, date, toffee, grape - from the aroma alone you would almost pick it as anBerleywine. Reasonably light on the palate, well balanced with a bitter finish. Taste is raisin, date, caramel and burnt toast. A good example of a Bitter.

Good bitter ale. Pours amber with foamy white head. Citrus on the nose with nice dry bitter finish.

Bottle shared with northropfrye. It certainly is bitter like the name says. As it turns out, this style is not my favourite. Enjoy the aroma more than the taste. It achieves what it sets out to do but it’s not my favourite style, at least I haven’t acquired a taste for this style yet.

UPDATED: DEC 29, 2011 Bottle. Dark reddish brown colour with off white head, heavy carbonation. Aroma is bitter citrus, a little pissy. Nice fresh grapefruit taste. Some malt. Decently balanced.

Bottled sample. Dark copper in colour with moderate carbonation. Aromas are of orange marmalade, ginger pound cake, and dried leaves. On the palate, things start off with a nice blend of pear and pale malt, but some very astringent husky grain flavours creep in mid sip, along with notes of dead grass and caramel. I like what the yeast has done here, but the astringent grains have really had a bad effect here. Too bad.

Single bottle purchased in Vancouver, BC on 03/11/2011. Colour: Light brown with traces of orange. Medium height slightly off-white head. Nose: Malt and hops jump out as if fighting for the lead, or running away from the chilli pepper that might be following them. Pecans and Coca-cola whisper together in the background, while a slight but stubborn chocolate presense sits alone in silence. Taste: Medium sweet, medium-high bitter, light sour. Gummi bears jump at me first (or perhaps wine gums?). Chocolate then comes about rather sweet at first but becomes more and more bitter as it roles around the palate. The malt and hops come running by again late and decide to stop and hang around long after the liquid is gone, and they run in great tandem too! Somewhere lost in the great chase is a touch of fruit as well. Really solid stuff, aside from just the smallest fraction sweet.

Had a sampler glass at the brewery. Aroma: nothing. at all. Appearance: clear brown, no head. Palate: dry, oh so dry. Taste: very bitter (surprise!) but no flavour. Couldn’t finish.

Draught at the brewpub
Hazy dark amber color; medium sized creamy head. Mild caramel aroma and stronger caramel flavor; some residual sweetness like in all beers from Howe Sound; there is also a light yeast touch, both in the aroma and taste, to complete this Bitter. The bitterness is bold.
Achieved.

1L Bottle. Pours a hazy medium-dark reddish amber with a lasting light tan head. Beautiful aroma of citrus and pine. Tastes quite hoppy; moderate bitterness, lots of flavouring and aromatic hopping - notes of citrus, pine, grass, with some earthiness. Finishes with a grassy bitterness. Lots on the hop side, not much on the malt side. Very good, a fine example of a ’bitter’ but with the northwest hops.