Aroma of pale malt, grass, floral notes, hops. Flavour is floral and hoppy with a potent and long bitterness in the aftertaste. A lot better than most English Bitters.

Tap at Botermarkt Bierfestival, Haarlem: Slightly hazy orange colored brew with an slightly sweet bitter taste. Hints of fruits and spices.

Bottle, bought @ de Bierkoning. Orange color, hazy. Citrus hopbitter flavor, with some earthy and grassy notes. A slight tartness. Indifferent aroma, but the beer does taste really well.

Blond colour with thin lacy head. Aroma and flavour have some light biscuity malts and dry floral hop. Nicely balanced.

Bottle from a Deen supermarket up in the Netherlands. It says a lot that the Dutch craft brewers, like the Americans did from the eighties onwards, are exploring not just the hip and ’americanized’ craft beer styles, but also the traditional European ones, in this case ESB - which is about as English as it gets. Irregular, moussy, off-white head, frothy but gradually thinning and eventually showing gaps in the middle, yet retaining very well on the edges; lightly hazy ’old gold’ colour with somewhat olive green tinge, notably paler than usual for this style but I guess the crystal malt has been kept limited in order to let the famous Maris Otter - one of the few malts generally known by its specific name, contrary to the names of all those hop varieties - come to full glory. Rather restrained aroma of field flowers, white bread crust, dried apricot, unripe peach, dough, apple peel, tulips, faint hints of honey, pear, minerals and something vaguely chlorine-like, but nothing really ’off’. Fruity flavor but subdued as is to be expected from an ale trying to be as authentically English as possible, sweetish hints of apple, apricot and green plum, ’dull’ sourishness underneath but well in balance with the sweetishness, in that both remain fairly subdued; medium carbonation, softish even, with a very supple, smooth, lightly soapy mouthfeel. Pure and lightly bready pale malt sweetishness in the middle, the Maris Otter indeed but I would not be able to recognize it if I hadn’t known its presence; the crystal malts, as I already suspected based on the looks, indeed remain subtle, as a soft, sweetish, bit caramelly edge. Ends with a soft touch of floral and herbal hop bitterness, drying, a tad tonic water-like but in all gentle and fit for the style; in fact the hops, which usually lend body and structure to the finish of most beers, could have been a bit more pronounced for me, not just because I’m a hophead but because the finish in this state is just a bit on the watery side, also for an ESB. A resinous, ’noble’ (and indeed English bitter-like) hoppiness does remain lingering in the mouth after swallowing though, so this component still passes for me. Honorable attempt, in all: a pleasant enough, highly drinkable ale, in which a certain amount of subtlety and cleanness has been achieved - which was clearly, and justly so, the intention. However, I remember most ESBs as being a bit darker and maltier: I get the idea of wanting to use Maris Otter in attempting to brew a real English ale and pale malt (certainly of this reputation) is key to the family of English bitters, but I think adding Munich or even Vienna malts - with restraint - could have lended this beer more body and flavor, or better put: more body and flavor akin to classic ESB. Apart from style considerations, this is a highly drinkable, correct beer, just not really... English enough, I guess.

Bottle at home in London - picked this up from an online shop (Beermerchants, I think?) a coupe years back. Pours clear gold with a foamy, mostly white head. Simple dry bread in the nose, some pale grains, citrus peel. Light-medium sweet flavour with mellow bitterness, further citrusy inflections, crunchy grains, a little yeast. Medium bodied with average carbonation. Pretty well balanced in the finish, with some further crunchy, somewhat husky pale grains, a bit of citrus peel, light bitter hay. Quite enjoyable stuff overall.

11th September 2016
Very old bottle from the recesses of the cellar. Hazy amber beer, good cream colour head. Palate is smooth, semi dry and has modest carbonation. Light malts, some oxidised caramel. Mild floral bitterness. Tangy dried fruits. Light dry finish. Aged but fine.

330ml bottle from Ales by Mail. Pours amber with good off-white head. Aroma is caramel. Wasn’t terribly looking forward to a Dutch version of a bitter, but this is actually better than expected due to the nice mellow sweetness that comes into play; something that lacks in English bitters which tend to be horribly bland and malt-forward. Refreshing, drinkable end of work beer.

Fles 33cl thuis. Bitter. Hoptonen, wat fruitig, Lange nadronk. Geen typische ESB. (7-2015).

Tap at Uiltje bar. Slight hazy golden with white head. Light yeast, sweet malts, some caramel and slight toasted grains. Light bitter herbs with a touch of plums. Slight sweat. Medium bodied.