Extra Special Bitter
Ipswich Ale Brewery in Ipswich, Massachusetts, United States 🇺🇸
Bitter - ESB / Strong Bitter Rotating Out of Production|
Score
7.29
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Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Hazy orange body, medium cream/off-white head. Tangy, bready aroma with a touch of caramel in addition to grassy, earthy hops. Big bready/yeasty flavor with grassy hops and a hint of caramel. Yeah, pretty much what I expected from the aroma. Medium-bodied. This was a good beer, but not too different from many others of this style that don’t rate as highly. Thanks Tom (OldGrowth) for the bottle!
Clarkvv (16523) reviewed Extra Special Bitter from Ipswich Ale Brewery 23 years ago
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9.5
This may be my favorite beer. Didnt take any tasting notes when i had it a year ago, but i had a 6 pack of it and it was incredible. Perfect red amber hue, great bitter notes, with some subtle apricot/peach tones. Please do your self a favor and try this beer. I can not even imagine what this tastes like on tap. I am going to Ipswich in a month and will be purchasing as much of this as I can find. Hopefully then I can rerate and get some more specs.
Thanks to the very generous OldGrowth, I was able to try an old bottle on 5/27/2005. I can’t believe how well this aged. Tons of oxidation, and sherry notes, but I can’t find fault with that, this is a 5% abv ESB brewed around 5 years ago. Still fruity, caramelly and malty. Poured a head, with light lacing and of course, plenty of sediment. Tons of fruity yeast esters, bready and malty. Fantastic! But upon further thought, it isnt a 5, I would like to be nostalgic and give it one, but no, it aint. Damn near close though, this is still a fantastic beer.