ESB
F.X. Matt Brewing Company (Saranac) in Utica, New York, United States 🇺🇸
Bitter - ESB / Strong Bitter Regular|
Score
6.06
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6.5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 6
Amber with a small white head. Sweet floral hoppiness in the aroma. Flavor is bitter and tangy, without much else going on. Very drinkable, because it’s unfilling, and not bad, but it lacks a lot of flavor.
Tried
on 12 Jan 2005
at 21:48
4.4/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 4
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 4.5
2004 bottle. Amber-tan colored body, with some slight auburn highlights and a rapidly disipating white head. Aroma of light grains, some metal and a touch of bitterness, perhaps some soap. Flavor has light toasted malts, base malts for a backbone and some fuggles. They certainly arent going to be responsible for the extinction of hops with this beer though. There is just enough hop there to notice. Very little sweetness, mostly a watery, light and dry caramel touch and then a crisp, clean (bland) finish. Like many of Matt’s beers, it’s not bad, just very very unspectacular.
Tried
from Bottle
on 02 Jan 2005
at 11:45
2.8/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 3
Flavor 3
Texture 2
Overall 2
Amber coloured body with a super thin off-white head. Aroma of very subtle and light english hops with some toffee but not much. Light-bodied; Very minimal malt taste with hardly any hops. More cardboard tastes than anything else. Overall, this one was way too watery and bland for me, but this is the usual Sary beer...very sad. I sampled this twelve ounce bottle pulled from the Winter 12 pack on 28-December-2004 purchased at Total Wine in McLean, Virginia.
Tried
from Bottle
on 28 Dec 2004
at 23:33
6.5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 6
Texture 4
Overall 7
Hard to rate, at one level its a nice ordinary ale, very drinkable. But it seems to match poorly with food (very unusual for an ESB) and to be somewhat poorly integrated. Attractive reddish amber color, inviting almost warming nose of rich malts and spicy hops. Malt palate is more boring though, leading to a surprising citric quality in the hop finish. Somewhat rough around the edges.
Tried
on 19 Dec 2004
at 18:45
6.2/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
I have been on a bit of an ESB kick recently so I was pleased to find this one included in the holiday sampler as it was a beer I have not managed to try before. Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer poured a caramel color with a small white head. There was a light bitter and hoppy aroma with a hint of underlying malt. The flavor was malty and had caramel, nut and light fruity undertones. It was a bit harsh though. While I found the initial sips to be encouraging I found my rating dropping as I got further into the glass.
Tried
from Bottle
on 15 Dec 2004
at 16:50