Asheville Pizza Rolands ESB

Brewed by Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Asheville, North Carolina USA

Draught at WBF in Raleigh. Big head, copper appearance, and hoppy aroma. Flavor is malty and hoppy with a dry finish. Lot of grapefruit in aftertaste. I would like th malt kicked up a notch but that’s just me.

draught. Red/brown hue with a thin white head. The aroma is thickly of caramel, some papery hops, and bright acidity. Rolands red is mildly biting with an iota of grapefruit and a finish of bark. The acidity clings between sips, but the dense caramel-like malts balance everything out fairly well.

In terms of palate and appearance this stuff is definitely about par for APC. The hops are about the same consistently citrusy, good, not metallic and icky. What excites me about htis beer more than any of the other APC beers is the really creamy, almost coconutty sweet malts which serve to balance out the bitters. This beer Iwhich I tried at the new brew pub on cox ave. rather than the original APC on Merrimon) is the most complex beer I’ve had from APC and one of the most exciting brews I’ve had out of NC. And best of all the pitchers are only 8 dollars!

Draught. Pours a deep red-gold with a thin, but dense, white ehad. The aroma is bread, barley, and a touch of butterscotch. The flavor is toast (especially in the finish), semi-sweet malt, and zesty hops. The mouthfeel is a bit dusty. I’m not a fan of ESB’s, but this wasn’t too bad.

Copper, decent white head. Bready, "fresh beer" aroma. Nicely mellow, with subtle hints of caramel and toffee, plus just a hint of vanilla. Slightly crisp, peppery finish

On tap at the brewpub. Dark gold beer in color. Has a very substantial head with good staying power. Nice lacing in the glass. Very tangy flavor with the flavors of grapefruit and gypsum. Good, but not great.