Blue Ridge (MD) ESB Red Ale

Brewed by Wild Goose LLC (Flying Dog)
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Frederick, Maryland USA

bottle-pours lightly hazy orange with a small fizzy white head. aroma suggests oxidization, like the other 3 samples of this beer that i have had. Lightly oxidized caramel malts and light resinous hops. flavors are fruity sweet toasted malts with some resinous english noble hops. ok, but i guess i just need a fresh sample. I would like to try it on tap.

12oz bottle via trade with hopscotch - Thanks Jason! - Pours amber with a fair offwhite head that doesn’t stay too long. Aromas of caramel and floral hops. Flavor begins bitter and even slightly sour. A touch of caramel and toffee comes through before the bitter finish.. Fairly well carbonated and creamy on the palate.

This beer offers an aroma of prunes, fruit, and hops. It is a copper colored solution with a glaze of a head. This thin dry beer produces a flavor that is mildly bitter and woody tasting. The flavor is marked with the tastes of orange and nuts.

Not very bitter, but balanced enough to enjoy. It still feels similar in charater to some of their other beers.

It poured out a reddish brown color, not quite clear with a slight haze to it. The head foamed up a nice beige color which quickly disappeared, leaving behind little trace of what it once was. At first all I could detect was a heavy caramel-like scent in the aroma, but later on I detected hints of a floral scent along with some grains. They were definitely not overpowering, though. My first sip somewhat startled me as I had been expecting a very bitter beer. Instead, Blue Ridge ESB was very sweet at first taste, similar to a Werther’s candy. The initial taste was heavily like toasted caramel or butterscotch. The bitterness kicks in most on the follow-through where the hops become evident. Still, the bitterness wasn’t terribly overpowering and it didn’t have the heavy carbonation kick I was expecting either.

Lightly hazed light copper color with a taller fluffy beige head. Heavy caramel aromas with a mild backdrop of floral hops. Hugh diacetyl contributions in the flavor. The front end of this one is really like sucking on a butterscotch lozenge, nearly to the point of being very distracting. Some mild caramel comes in later in the quaff and adds to the thickness and sweetness. Creamy feel, only slightly makes up for the cloying flavors. Unbalanced and sweet, especially for a labeled ESB.

"Poured an amber color with a large head, left okay lacind. Smelled of caramel Medium to full bodied beer. Tasted of hops and caramel. Smooth finish, nice balance. "

Courtesy of Degarth,
Aroma of biscits and barley just harvested from field. Amber body with off white head. The flavor was a good mix of malts and hop. Thought it tasted more like a barley wine with out that alcohol numbing hit to the face. Not overly bitter or sweet. Smooth easy drinking beer.