No-Li Crystal Bitter Ale

Brewed by No-Li Brewhouse (Northern Lights)
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Spokane, Washington USA

Serve in English pint

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Deep brown pour with a short-lived tan head. Aroma is sweet biscuity caramel. Fruity, herbal, tea-like. Like sweet Lipton iced tea. Flavor is similar. Not very good. Ended up being a drain pour. To sweet to herbal. Weird.

pours a cloudy copper with a small tan head, and good lacing. smell is of malt, whoppers, and caramel. taste is of malt, toffee, hops, a touch of citrus, almost a marzen taste only with more hops. ends a little creamy.

Poured into a nonic out of a 22oz bomber. Pours a slightly hazy dark brown with a one finger off-white head. Reallyg great head retention and large clumps of lacing. Lots of toffee and caramel in the aroma with some hints of dark fruit. Earthy hops sneak through along with a little bit of toast. No real faults but it is pretty weak all around. Toffee and dark fruit in the taste along with a quick shot of alcohol. There is some hazelnut and toast with a touch of maple syrup. Some earthy hops in the background stay buried. Bitterness is on the moderate side and helps dry out the mouthfeel towards the finish. Overall, a nice ESB but it lacks some of the fruity depth of some English examples. Nicely done but it doesn’t blow me away.

Bottle. Pours a slightly hazy dark amber color with some red notes and a moderate white head. Nose is a little bitter from some English style hops. Taste is a little bitter, but with a slight bit of malty sweetness in there that is a little different from what I expected. Interesting.

22 ounce bottle. Pours a clear amber with a nice biege head. Aroma of malt, fruit, pine, and florals. Taste is caramel malt, grapefruit, spice, pine, and florals. Didn’t get the artwork at first. Nice stuff!

Bottle. Deep amber with dark orange highlights and a thick golden head. Aroma is caramel with light fruity notes. Sweet caramel flavour with added notes of light hazelnut, peach, and ending in a lightly bitter finish. Out of the three No-Li brews (terrible name for a brewery BTW), I enjoyed this the best.

16oz pour at Meridian Pint. Pours a translucent deep garnet amber with one ring of white head. Nose is hard root beer candies, orange, honey, maple candy. Flavor is sickly sweet, maple, honey, malt, orange. Gross, sweet finish. WAY off.

Sample at Yard House Seattle. The beer pours a clear amber color with a medium thin white head that recedes steadily. Strings of lacing on the glass. Aroma of toasted malt and hops. Light-bodied with flavors of caramel malt, grassy hops and a bit of fruit. The finish is mildly bitter with a grassy hops aftertaste. Decent overall.

Location: 22 oz bottle from State Line, 2/16/13

Aroma: The nose has some caramel malts, nutty notes, bread, and a bit of hop
Appearance: Pours a mahagony color with a small, lasting beige head and medium lace
Flavor: The taste is a bit sweet, though more bitter then the nose suggested, with hoppy finish
Palate: This one has a medium body, average-plus carbonation, a decent feel, and a dry finish
Overall Impression: This is some solid stuff overall. The aroma is a bit dull, but it really does improves from there. I was pretty surprised at how bitter this one turned out to be considering it has very little hop aroma. Doesn’t seem to be exactly on style, and it has a touch too much carbonation, but it is a nice beer.

22 oz bottle. Pours slightly hazy ruby amber with a small off white head that quickly goes to a thin dusting that leaves a little lacing.

The aroma is sweet bready caramel malts with a little fruit and hops.

The flavor is sweet, nutty toffee and caramel malts with a medium bitter finish that balances it. The mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with low carbonation.

Overall, this is one of the better ESBs I’ve had which is not usually a style I care for.