Breckenridge 471 Small Batch Extra ESB

Brewed by Breckenridge Brewery
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Denver, Colorado USA

12oz bottle. Hazy medium brown pour. Aroma of deep rich toasted malts, lots of nutty caramel. Dark toasted sugars. Earthy hops and brown sugar, what a combination of aromas. Lots of dark caramelized sugars in the flavoring. A very well balanced ale, hops come through in the finish. Bold wooded hop flavors all on top of a malt backbone. Maltiness is not overly sweet, hop is light and add the right amount of bitterness and flavor making this beer a great tasting, higher octane, full bodied session. Yum yum. 12 Nov 09.

Decent beer, and not striking me as 7.8% abv. At first I was skeptical because i had just come off of a Founders Harvest IPA, but the overall profile here grew on me, especially with caramel, nutty malts. Natural--I like the adjective "earthy" though it shoudn’t be given too much descriptive power--and warming. Imperfect but decent and drinkable.

12oz bottle. Pours copper with red and orange highlights and a medium-sized, short-lived off-white head that leaves a decent amount of lace on the glass. The aroma is big - bigger than its 7.8%abv would suggest. It is very malty with a decent bit of slightly resiny, earthy hops in there, too. The more you sniff, the more malt subtleties come through - particularly caramel and brown sugar but some fruitiness and nuttiness, too. The flavor follows the aroma: strong maltiness with a decent bit of caramel-sweetness along with a very pronounced hop bitterness that provides citrus/grapefruit notes as well as spicy and earthy hop flavors. At mid-palate, it is quite strongly flavored with lots of malts (caramel with hints of chocolate-covered raisins), esters (dark fruit and, as mentioned, raisins), and hops (bitter citrus, solvent-like resiny characters, and some spicy and earthy tones). The finish is full but with an attempt at dryness kicked in by the combination of alcohol warmth, strong bitterness (almost astringent), and lots of bubbles. The mouthfeel is full but also quite bubbly - which helps lighten the texture overall. Overall, not bad, but not terribly interesting. It tastes more like a Barleywine to me than a double ESB (though, admittedly, that can be a fine line that differentiates the two).

POurs amber. Nose is bittering noble hops and sweet malt. Flavor is some bitter hops, bready, hints of roast and caramel. Not bad, sort of flat.

This might bill itself as a double ESB, but it seems very similar to an English Strong Ale to me (maybe that’s all an ESA is?) - clear dark ruby - impressive, bright white lace - fairly hoppy in the nose for a british style ale, with some yeasty notes, toffee, faint diacetyl (makes it authentically british!), and warming spiciness behind it - the flavor is equal parts bitter and roasty up front, followed by some cask/oaky notes, toffee sweetness, and again, very light diacetyl (which again, makes it taste authentic) - some fruitiness and roasted nuts are quickly followed by fairly strong hop bitterness and alcohol warmth - this might not perfectly fall into the category on English Strong Ale, but the classification certainly fits better than ESB - pretty good stuff.

Quite a ESB here- strong as hell. On tap at the Ale House in Grand Junction. Pours a clear amber color with a medium white head. A hoppy flavor with loads of caramel, some light fruit and alcohol. I liked it a lot.

A little cloudy, thick, subtle fruit and hops, big kick in the aftertaste. Different than ESBs I’ve had.

Nice malt flavor and well balanced with the hops. Aroma is amazing, but the flavor doesn’t match it.