Anderson Valley Boont ESB

Brewed by Anderson Valley Brewing Company
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Boonville, California USA

This is a great ESB, one of the best I have had recently. A perfect amount of hops with a little bit of sweetness. A great session beer.

Golden. Light buttery aroma, slightly nutty. Taste is sweet, lightly floral. Finish gets nutty, bitter. The bitterness tastes kind of swampy, off. Light oily texture.

A little too bright and yellowish to make a convincing ESB. Aroma is light nutty with cereal notes and a sweetish crystal malt tinge. Flavor is somewhat fruity with a woodsy, slightly musky bitterness. Nice earthy bitterness but the beer doesn’t quite have the body to stand up to it. My last batch of homebrew came out almost exactly like this, only more carbonated and less alcohol. This one is overcarbonated as well.

Light amber color with medium sized white head. Aroma is malty, sweet, with hint of pear, and a faint note of belgain yeast. Flavor has lots of roasted malt, a good balance of bitterness and sweetness, with the sweetness winning out a bit. A very good brew.

From a 22oz bottle.

Pours a clear amber with a nice big fluffy head; the aroma is your typical hop-loaded citrus and pine. The flavor is somewhat disappointing on the first sip; a rank taste of musty earth penetrates the juicy hops and sweet caramel malts and lingers in the back of the palate.

Still, as I work my way through the bottle, this one goes down well enough, with a nice session-beer mouthfeel and a pleasing long hop finish.

I’m not blown away, but this is a fair enough entry.

08.12.05 12oz bottle. Pallid, honey amber pour with small white head that laces until it disappears (quickly). Aroma is light and grainy sweet. Lots of cereal, some peppery weed, and dead autumn flowers. This seems more malt focused than hopped, and that’s a bit of a disappointment. Maybe it’s an old bottle; I don’t think so, but that’s the impression I get. Fairly high ABV is masked until it sneaks out and dominates the finish along with a whack of caramel. Light orangey citrus tries to expose itself throughout but it never comes out of the closet. I couldn’ve done without this one.

pours a light amber with a large white head, aromas of malt, loads hops, and some sweetness, the taste is malty, and bitter, with a smooth finish, decent body on this beer, not bad at all

Pours very light colored for an ESB. Very light amber, thin head, starts out slightly hazy then clears and there are some yeasties floating around. some lacing as well. Aroma is initially pure PNW hops- possibly columbus, but then as it warms a bit of the malt comes through. Light crystal and bready malts in the aroma. Lots of hops again in the flavor backed pretty well by a sharp light crystal malt background. Pretty well balanced and a nice smooth finish. Pretty good americanized ESB- but this is pretty much just another standard IPA. With the hop and yeast profile of this beer- it is very similar to many other anderson valley brews.