AleSmith Anvil ESB

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

Bottle at ultimate glasgow tasting. Very highly carbonated, kind of ruins it a bit infact. Aroma is well balanced grassy citrus hop with rounded malt character. Taste is similar though quite thin. Too carbaonted.

Bottle at Toms Ultimate Glasgow Tasting ...Copper colour ... decent enough fruity bitter ... nice rounded ... reasonabl depth ... good malt fruit.

Bottled, consumed on 12/1/07. Deep ambery coppery color, slightly hazy, pours a modest head that thins to a ring around the edges fast. Beautiful sweet malt aroma with sugar/molasses notes; indistinct and fleeting metallic tang the only flaw. Mouthfeel is slightly smooth and creamy. Yeast character is unexpectedly strong on palate for an ESB. Grainy, fruity flavors (sweet oranges, apricots) wash over the tongue before going down with a clean, fast finish. Traces of caramel as well. I love this beer.

Bomber, with thanks to WeeHeavySD. Pours a clear orange-amber with a thick two finger tan head, minor lacing. Aroma is grass, citrus and caramel. Flavor is a good balance, leaning a bit more to the malts, very smooth and drinkable. A nice, pleasing, highly sessionable beer.

10-29-07 bottle. Tea flavor and aroma. A strange stillness about it - again, like tea. Cloudy amber color with decent head.

Pours a lightly hazy, fiery, reddish-amber body. A dense, bubbly, cream colored head shows decent retention, settling after a few minutes to a 2mm blanket with a steep walled rim. Gobs of thick lacing cover the glass well. The aroma shows strong, fresh, grassy and herbal hops over a toasted caramel malt base. Grapefruit makes a brief appearance as well. A touch of fresh cream subdues the hoppiness quite a bit. The flavor is very well balanced. Nougat and caramel malts offset grassy and citrus hops. Cream adds a smoothing element up front, though the grassy hops seem to intensify over time. Finishes long and grassy. The body is just on the heavy side of medium and very smooth. Really good beer, but resembles more of a hoppy amber or a red IPA than an ESB.

I keep this beer around. I show it to friends, I foist it on houseguests, I consume it like butter. It’s almost like candy sometimes. Nonsense!

11/04/2007: AleSmith Anvil ESB Ale pours a beautiful clear brown sugar/pecan color with a foamy orangy-ivory head that leaves a lasting crown. The aroma is a wonderful, inviting blend of soft, sugary citrus (orange) with some underlying brown sugar and caramel maltiness and floral hoppiness. The flavor starts with lightly chewy caramel and then develops into a deeper, toasted maltiness with some traces of more darkly roasted malt and lots of caramel with a touch of citrus zest thrown in. The finish and aftertaste are simply amazing for an ESB as the caramelized sugar maltiness and delicate floral and citrus hoppiness linger. There is a dark toffee twist at the end too. The body of this beer is medium-full and it is very smooth and mellow on the palate. This is an excellent ESB and well worth the wait. I really need to get my hands on some more of it and soon! People in CA are so lucky to have this readily available in their area. This has to be my favorite ESB out of all that I have tried so far...

22 1 pt., 6 fl. oz. bottle from 5000. Thank you very much Andre! This one has been on my want list for a very long time. No longer though thanks to you. I really appreciate it! Rating #330 for this beer...