AleSmith Anvil ESB

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

Head is initially small, frothy, light brown, fully diminishing. Body is hazy dark amber, bottle conditioned. Aroma is moderately malty (toasted grain, cookie), lightly hoppy (apricot, flowers), with a note of sherry. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, watery/velvety texture, lively carbonation. Another dull, oxidized sample (but from a presumably fresh bottle, obtained from a California source) from Alesmith, just as with fresh bottles of Old Numbskull and Wee Heavy I’ve had recently (also obtained from a San Diego source, off the shelf). I used to love Alesmith as much as the next guy, but something seems to be amiss to me...

Less hop bite and thinner than Alesmith’s Evil Dead Red. Dry grapefuit finish off of caramel flavors. A little grassy, but no overwhelming flavor. I prefer the boldness of Evil Dead Red, or even Rogue’s Younger ESB. Still, this is a nice session brew.

Hazy amber body with a small white head. Granola/caramel aroma, smells like some specialy grains I just used, Briess Caramel 40. The same sweet caramelly malts in the flavor are accompanied by a nice mouthfeel at the start, bu the beer stumbles in the finish. It has a nice herbal/citrus hopping but there’s an acidic bite - maybe it’s the carbonation. Bit dissapointed in this beer.

Poured caramel amber with a small but dense white head...smell is grapefruit, caramel, and a touch roasty...great mouthfeel with a nice sweet maltiness up front, giving way to a nicely hopped back end...slightly bitter grassy finish...this one tops my ESB list...

This poured out a clear amber color with a slight of white head that left virtually no lacing around the glass. The aroma smell of sweet caramel with a bit of earthy toned hops peaking every now and then. The flavor was very mild with caramel malt and balancing earthy hops that added a nice bitterness. The mouthfeel was about light-medium with a super creaminess about it that allowed it to go down of so smoothly. Very light refreshing sessionable brew here that can be put down all night.

Pours a cloudy brown/ amber with a frothy off-white head. Aroma dominated by grapefruit. Caramel flavors with no aftertaste.

First off, not normally a fan of ESB’s, but I’ve loved everything Alesmith has made so I had to give this a try. Bomber bottle. Appearance: A dark copper/brown color, light fast dissapearing head with moderate lacing. Aroma: A little pine, a little apple, touch of malt, very subtle. Flavor profile: I was expecting really bitter, but this is surprisingly not so. A nice light hop/malt backbone, with some carmel and apple flavors poking through. Its got a sweet kind of flavor without really being sweet. Light but not watery mouthfeel, really smooth and quenching character to it. Overall: This is pretty good, I’m sure if you love ESB’s you’d really dig this.

Sampled at marinaro500’s post-Thanksgiving gathering, provided by the host. Cloudy orange body, thin cream head. Caramely aroma with nice earthy (and floral) hops and minerals. Sharp earthy hops cut the breads and caramels, leaving a relatively long finish with just a touch of bitterness and pine. Coppery. Very tasty despite the low ABV; this is indeed a liquid cookie.