AleSmith Anvil ESB

Brewed by AleSmith Brewing Company
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
San Diego, California USA

Tasting at Brewtopia festival. Amber/copper pour wtih a fluffy head. Some good lacing with this one. Aroma is malty with hints of caramel leading way to some floral hops. Flavorwise this was one of my least favorite Alesmith productions to date...but it is still pretty good. Flavor has some caramel, toffe, and floral hops.

This poured a copper-brown with a fat tan head and very rich lacing. The mouthfeel is very rich and slick, and it goes down very smoothly. Nose is of malts and some pine hops. Very well balanced brew. Flavor is not complex but enjoyable. The most remarkable thing about this beer is how drinkable it is. It gets even better as it warms up. Don’t drink this one too cold.

<b>Bottle 66cl</b>
Clear medium amber orange color with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, roasted, caramel, moderate hoppy, orange. Flavor is moderate sweet and bitter with a average to long duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft. (050908)

22oz bottle. Acquired in trade with snojerk. Pour is a deep ruby red with a beautiful head of mocha lace. The aroma is surprising. Lots of caramel character. The hop presence is very light, only barely noticeable. The flavor is more complex. There is both plenty of caramel, but the hops swirl in and out - wraith like floral notes mix with hints of piny bitterness. Very quaffable. Soo good.

Bomber from Hi-Time Wine Cellars. Pours a reddish-amber color with a thin head that pretty much sticks around for some spotty lacing. Sweet biscuity malts, some caramel, with light floral hopping. For an AleSmith brew this is really rather unexciting. Still, this is a pretty solid session beer, I just thought it might be a little better than that.

In short: Inexpressive malts and a strong fruity-tea hop profile. Very drinkable but not memorable in any way
How: Bottle 22oz, from kegbear, consumed very fresh one week after reception. Thanks a lot Craig
The look: Cloudy dark copper body topped by a medium off-white head
In long: Crisp pale malts slighly toasted. Malt bill is more like dry salad croutons than toasted caramelized malts. Light to medium fruitiness with red fruits, oranges and some tropical fruits. Generously hopped with a strong aromatic red-fruit flavoured tea, like those I’m offered after a meal in some restaurants. Not much bitterness and the fruity tea-like herbal character is a bit too much. Towards the bottom of the bottle I was getting more yeast and also some undesired acidic notes. The beer had many qualities, it was very cleanly brewed, it’s an AleSmith after all but an inferior AleSmith. Not a very solid beer. If all anvils were that solid knights and gladiators would have fought with wooden sticks and throwing rocks at each other.

Bottle. Poured a clear amber with a two finger white head. Aroma of spices and citrus. Flavor was malt, bread and a slight bit of citrus. Medium body with good carbonation and a creamy mouthfeel that I wasn’t expecting.

Aroma and taste dominated by brett characteristics. Metallic cherry notes, everything you would expect from a brett fermentation. Good appearance, palate, and fundamentals, but this tasted nothing like an ESB. I enjoyed it, and if it had been sold as a Brett beer, it would have been $10 instead of $4, so no complaints. E-mail to Alesmith, confirmed they had a batch of ESB with a Brett infection, and I lucked out and got one accidentally. Will re-rate once I get a normal version, but this was awesome in its own right.