Extra Special Bitter Ale

Cask@GBBF08. Orangeish amber colour, not much head. Aroma is sour fruit and wood along with some mild grassyness and yeast. Flavour is wood, grass and yeast. Finish is a bit bittery. Dry palate.

Cloudy amber with tiny off white head. Sweet fruity aroma with floral hops. Sweet flavor with caramel and mild hoppy notes leading it to a bitter end.

Growler. Small head. Aroma is very present with lots of fruitiness and slight underlying malty biscuity aroma. Very sweet and nice indeed. Taste is a bit of a disappointment. A bit watery with the faint fruitness. Lacks the maltiness i enjoy in this style. But a clean, easy drinking ESB.

Draught pint at Redbones on 8/8/06.
Copper-amber colored, somewhat on the lighter side of things, with light cherry red hints and a small, neat, off-white head that recedes eventually to ring. Medium-high to high clarity.
Very little aroma to be had, and I don’t blame Redbones, because their lines are immaculate and the bar was empty at this time. Some very slight wafts of fruits, honey malts, touches of dough and some soggy, soily, grass-like hoppiness. I suppose ESBs don’t have to have a striking, clear nose of hops and vibrant yeast, but this one just seemed dull and vaguely fruity, with some sugars behind that.
Flavor was certainly not dull, however. Large malt presence, nutty-sweet, light sugars and light caramel malts all arranged in harmony. But there dosent seem to be enough balance here. It seems the attenuation level and lack of hop balance just serves to fatigue the palate after a while. Yeast dosent seem all that fun, either. Well-malted, supportive body, but I can’t find much else to say about it. Low carbonation, no alcohol present. Somewhat of a mineral character.