Atlantic SOB Special Old Bitter Ale

Brewed by Atlantic Brewing Company
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Bar Harbor, Maine USA

(22 oz. bottle from brewery) Pours fairly dark amber with about 1" of biscuit head that recedes to about 1/8". Aroma pretty strongly hoppy - pine and citrus. Mouthfeel smooth, a touch prickly in finish and very slightly watery overall. Tastes of moderate bitterness overlaying some pine and citrus upfront followed by some very mild maltiness. Bitter finish.

Pours amber brown with a thin off white head. Smells of a good blend of hops and malt. It is very very bitter, but smooth as velvet. It leaves a nice clean feeling in your mouth. I was quite pleased.

Long lasting head, moderate lacing. Amberish color, and cloudy.Bitterness was striking at first, but I acclimated quickly to this medium bodied creamy brew. Yeast, grass, and some floral notes on the aroma. For the style, it seemed well balanced and enjoyable. Yeast sediment at the bottom of the glass. Tried again in 2007. Still good.

Okay - I first had this beer in 2000 - at that time, it was the hoppiest beer I had ever had - essentially a mouthful of hops and my uneducated palate could not handle it. So now, fast-forward 6 1/2 years and many, many beers later, what will I think now? Okay, it has a nice caramel malt and mild hops aroma - very pleasant. Cloudy orange-brown color with moderate beige head with attractive lacing. Now for the big test, the taste. Acidity hits the tip of my tongue right off the bat followed by a light caramel malt flavor and finishes with a strong pine hops finish - nicely blended without any aspect being overwhelming as I experienced with the hops in 2000. Hard to say what changed more, the quality of the blending of the beer over the past 6 years or my palate becoming more accepting to hops. I’m guessing a little bit of the former and a great deal of the latter. This beer is definitely the hoppiest ESB I’ve ever had but is still enjoyable - IPA/I2PA lovers would definitely appreciate this beer.

On draught, 8/14/2005 at the brewery. Chestnut-auburn with a deep yellowish-cream colored head that quickly recedes to a ring, but leaves a smattering of film on top. Yeasty and quite bitter/dry in the nose, but I don’t taste the smoke (which is odd, because it was quite apparent when they were giving samples of the peat-smoked malt they were supposedly using in it). Lots of lacing, and a good unfiltered appearance. I thought fuggles, but I see it’s northdown. Smells lightly sugary, worty you might say. Flavor begins with leafy, funky and quite bitter hops. Tons of lacing on the glass, as well. Toasty malt, no smokiness. Moderate carbonation. Acidic, bitter hops mix with the worty flavor. Gets rather sweet as it warms, maple syrup and caramel notes with a lingering bitterness. Retronasal is leafy, green, bitter, earthy hops. Low on the crystal malt, at least that does not dominate the malt profile. Having a bottle of this just recently, it just gets a little too one-sided with the hops. All of the dark, bitter, dry, acidic flavors need a bit more sweetness (so maybe some more crystal malt would be good afterall). Dry, resinous, oily mouthfeel. A well-made beer though, all told.

In stark contrast to the summer beer, I was nearly blown away by this one...relatively speaking. Poured copper with a straw-like head. Smelled of roses and grapefruit. Tasted of yogurt with some very nice floral undertones.

On tap at the brewery. Clear amber color with a thin offwhite head. Aroma and flavor of floral hops and caramel with a bitter finish. Light to medium body with a creamy texture and lively carbonation. Interesting bitter.

Better than most bitters I’ve had, as it had a lot more hops than I expected. Nice floral hoppy aroma, and a good hoppiness in the flavor to match. Felt good in the mouth, and tasted pretty good too. An excellent bitter, but what do I know: I’m not British.