3.9 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Dark copper, almost woody. Tiny head, very pleasing toffe/caramel flavor. Very nice beer!
3.7 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
You know, ESB doesn’t get nearly enough credit. This is a great beer. It poured a deep copper with a thin head that went a way quickly. Very drinkable with an overwhelming flavor of toffee and sandalwood to go with the old world hops. Special thanks to my wife, Peggy, for bringing this back from Atlanta.
3.7 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 16/20
Dark copper color, with a rich fruity, plum, curants aroma. A wonderful aroma. Small diminishing head. Heavy, syrup like, full bodied, fruity, malty with a slight bittering at the end. Minor alcohol aftertaste. Very nice.
3.4 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
Bottled at 6%. Pours a dark maroon color. Aroma is dark and slightly woody. Some dark fruit along with some vinous qualities. Rich dark fruity flavor. A very rich ESB.
2.5 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 3/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 8/20
A nose full of caramel; a rather dark appearance. The taste is really too malty, with some rather untasty hops used. Really too chewy and icky for me.
3.6 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Pours deep hazed mohogany w/ a shallow creamy froth. Aroma is rustic and malty. Medium nectar w/ mellow residual effers. Flavors of aged malted wood and tobacco. Some slight champagne flavors also. Nice bitterng on the finish.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 16/20
Bottle from Bella Vino in Ann Arbor Michigan. Dark brown body, small beige head. Lightly nutty malt flavour with a mild bitter tang to it in the finish (7+). Very sweet malt aroma, very lightly nutty (7+). Average palate. Quite pleasant.
3.2 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
UPDATED: JUL 27, 2006 From the bottle.
Pours a deep hazy brown with red tints. The aroma is sweet and redolent of dried fruit, washed in grassy British (Goldings?) hops. The nose also brings forward a musty and cider-like sourness.
The flavor is dominated by chewy dark toffee malts, faintly sweet early, decidedly vinous and sour later; the bitter finish, accented with dark-toasted malt, is mild at best. The palate is smooth, amply carbonated, amply rich but neither heavy nor sticky --- well done for the style at 6.5%, even if the alcohol is noticable on the long end of the finish. As the beer warms, the dark malts and sour cider flavors become overwhelming, and the beer is less enjoyable. A bad sign.
This is a fine enough ESB, for certain. Still, the various well-crafted compoents do not merge into a greater whole and I’m left with something good to drink but not necessarily near the top the list for the style.
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