Arcadia Lake Superior ESB

Cask at Blind Pig in Champaign, IL. Pours a reddish amber with a rocky off white head. Aroma of fruity ale esters and wet grains. Lighter side of medium bodied with soft carbonation. I had problems drinking this one- perhaps the cask temp was bringing out the flaws- which were buttery and vegetal mixed in with caramel and raw wort. I did not care for this at all

On tap at Hopcat. Came to the table in an imperial pint, with a decent tan head and nice copper body. Aroma was somewhat faint and didn’t give off much in the way of hops... mostly a carmelly aroma. Flavor was the same, caramel, biscuit and a little bit of noble hops to add a fair amount of bitterness. Medium chewy mouthfeel. Not a bad esb.

On tab @ Hopcat. Pours a good copper with large white head. Refreshing a drinkable yet a good amount of hops and malts, a decent ale.

Middle of the road version of a bitter. Nicely hopped, decently bitter. Just not very complex, and not quite bitter enough. A reasonable attempt though.

8-12-08. Bottle. Poured amber with with a small of white head. Smelled of caramel and malt. Some tastes of hops, nice bitterness, and lots of sweet malt, and caramel. Slightly nutty. Not bad

Cask. Pours a copper body with a thin lacing. Sweet caramel, and unrefined sugar. Light woodiness, tea, honey notes and some light floral notes and citrus. Decent.

Cask at Brazen Head. Poured copper/amber. Flowery and peachy aroma. Flavor of toasty malts, with a good amount of fruitiness--sweet peaches and strawberries came to mind-- with a wisp of grassy and citrusy hops at the end. Even with all the nectary notes however, it was not overly sweet and basically enjoyable.

Amber pour, cream head. Aroma slightly malty biscuit. Flavor is similar, slightly creamy, on the negative maybe a little bit of tea. Hops balance and finish this clean. As someone noted in here, the bottle does not match this out of the tap. Still pretty basic though.