Left Hand Sawtooth Ale

Brewed by Left Hand Brewing Co.
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Longmont, Colorado USA

Draught at Brewery: Aroma of hops, malt, resin, and dough. Poured amber in color. Sma;;, off-white head. Small lacing. Clear. Sparkling. Well balanced malt and hop flavors. Medium sweet & bitter. A little dry. Short finish. Light body. Lively carbonation. Overall, and ok ESB.

Sometimes I wonder whether a beer should be praised for having positive qualities, or for lacking negative ones, or maybe a mix of both. I recently tried Left Hand’s Sawtooth Ale, a beer that practically begs the same question. It’s a brew totally lacking in anything meritable, but it keeps abreast of any reprehensible qualities. That said, I think the former is the superior approach – an adventurous search for the exceptional. Though a beer can be leagues ahead of its competitors by removing anything that would be considered detrimental, it also yields an unengaging, sleepy and droll drink; a fate worse than the sink. At least terrible beer attracts conversation, sparks debates and makes some attempt to liven up life. That said, the Sawtooth Ale is horrible. It’s awful. It’s downright boring. The head slinks away shortly after pouring, leaving behind the vestiges of what was already a monotone gray. The color bears the uniform of the common beer grunt: nothing more than a semi-clear amber. The aroma carries malts and a tinge of yeast and, with acute effort, may yield something of a sweet spice. But these flavors are all. The taste follows suite in its unimpressive flavor. It has a fairly toothsome malts element, but it’s alone save for a chemical laden alcohol flavor. That bit of the beer burns on the tongue for awhile and leaves an ugly aftertaste. The composite analysis: sooooooo boring, and I mean every one of those extra o’s. It is a hum-drum beer, and anything like this is bound to keep me apathetic about the whole business of beer until I take a swig of something scintillating again. For that (and only that) I condemn this Sawtooth Ale to the deepest form of my scathing dislike.

Bottled. Amber with a thick white head. Descent retention and creaminess. Aroma has citrus, graitfruit and caramel. Taste was well balanced with a good maltiness. Pleasant bitterness. Good session beer.

Bottle - from sampler pack. So-so. Not much flavor. A little bitter, but poor hop flavor.

The 12 ounce bottle poured a delightfully clear reddish amber beverage with a modest creamy off-white head that was mostly diminishing but left good lacing on the glass. The aroma was well balanced. There was a predominant hop presence with some maltieness detectable underneath. The body was medium with lively carbonation and a smooth crisp, rather dry texture. The flavor started off ... what else ... bitter but not too bitter. A few moments later, a light sour character crept in. This was soon washed over by the pleasant bitterness which then lasted throughout the long finish.

On the whole a somewhat boring amber/pale ale. Poured an appealing red-amber, with a good two finger head. Aroma focused toward the malt end, with notes of butterscotch and caramel. Flavor similar, but some spicy flavoring hops are brought out. Although indistinct, they serve the purpose to provide counterpoint to the caramelized malts. Finish just barely bitter, again revealing the malt leaning tendencies of this one. Despite that, the malts are not especially featured, and the beer approaches blandness, definitely boringness.

This was a good ESB. Real easy to drink, went down nice, dry bittering finish. Session brew here

Amber-hued with a little lacing. Aromas are heavy on hopcit. Bitter bite, with a hoppy center and a fading malt finish that’s woodsy and warm. Hops are a bit soapy. Quite "wet" on the finish. There is a bit of mineral in the flavor profile which is kind of nice. Overall, however, not in the class of ESB it aspires to be.