Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
The primary aroma is hops, but there is also metal. This is very smooth, and there is a sweet hop flavor.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
Hazy light orange body, medium-thick puffy off-white head. Sweet, biscuity aroma with a touch of honey and citrusy, grassy hops. The flavor starts off on a decent note, with grainy breads, a touch of honey, and grassy hops. However, that’s when the copper pennies take over and ruin the palate. I like this beer’s biscuity simplicity, but the honey detracts a bit from that element.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Bottle. Black beer with a good dark beige head. Chocolate and roasty malt aroma. Roasted malt flavor with coffee. Thick and rich, but surprisingly smooth. Good hop bitterness backing the malt. Vanilla and date in the background. Alcohol is there, but in the background.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle. Amber color with a big off-white head. Big hoppy aroma of mostly grapefruit. Grapefruit and resin flavors with a good malt backing and some spiciness. Thick and full bodied. I love the style, but I don’t think this is better than many of the others out there.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 5.5
Hazy yellow-orange body, thin off-white head. Tangy, wheaty, somewhat off-putting aroma. Yeasty body, tangy and fruity, but rather thin, with a somewhat harsh finish. A bit funky in an undesirable way, but not too offensive and certainly not disgusting. Just a boring, unnecessarily dull American Wheat.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8.5
Pours a cloudy brown out of the bottle with a nice sized white head. Aroma is chocolate and hops. Flavor is intense chocolate with a nutty aftertaste. This is probably the most "chocolate" tasting brew i have ever had and it is quite tasty. Alcohol is well hidden which makes this very easy to drink.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
Clear copper/dark orange, thin off-white head. Piney, earthy hops aroma with toasty malts. Biscuity, toasty malt body with an adequate supply of piney, earthy hops. A bit buttery. Highly carbonated which isn’t optimal for a session beer like this one. Bitter finish. Decent, but a bit boring.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Clear copper body, medium cream head. Earthy, piney hops aroma with a touch of citrus. Earthy, toasty, bready body with plenty of grassy hops and a bitter finish. Nice biscuity malt backdrop. Clean and crisp. Started nicely but faded a bit over time.
Clarkvv (16523) reviewed HotShot ESB from Great Divide Brewing Company 21 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4
2004 bottle from Hop and Leaf. Clear, filtered light amber body, with a thin smattering of white head. Aroma of lightly toasted caramel and popcorn, some light earthy/metallic tones, a touch of yeast dryness and hops. Flavor starts out with a grainy, dusty, earthy, dry note which quickly transitions in to a bitter hops finish. Not alpha bitter, just kind of astringent-like bitterness, metallic and mostly flavorless. If someone told me they brewed this to contain no residual sweetness, I would believe it. There is none. Hops and water, some grainy flavor, medium body. Poured it out. . .
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Nice clearish red-orange body, medium/thick tan head. Pine and grapefruit hops were abundant in the aroma, which also contained caramels. Plenty of caramels and dark sweet fruit in the body complemented the big piney, grapefruity hops nicely. Sweet and a bit rough on the palate, finishing with alcohol notes. Would be a nice beer to age, but I liked it as it was. From the vast cellar of John (JCW).