Crooked River Original ESB

Formerly brewed at Crooked River Brewery (Snyder Intl)
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Frederick, Maryland USA

Just wanted to re-rate and express my satisfaction that this great beer won the gold medal at the 2002 Great American Beer Festival a couple of weeks ago (Extra Special) Strong Bitter category. This is the best ESB I’ve ever tried. If you love a beer with great malty depth and plenty of delicious hops, this is the beer for you. Forget Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, if you had a Crooked River ESB, you’d never look back, I promise. I could drink this beer and this beer alone for the rest of my life - it’s that damn good!

The last offering I tried from my beer of the month club shipment (I have a knack for saving the best for last). This brew pours from the bottle a clear copper orange. The titanic fluffy off-white head is fully lasting, and has decent lacing. The rich and clean nose is spicy and rewarding with an abundance of grapefruit. The outstanding flavor has a balance and complexity that is in a word - uber. Best described as sweet, warm, spicy, and flowery with moderate acidity. The flavor is one you won’t soon forget. The finish is long and very well balanced. The medium body is creamy and lively with a clean and lightly alcoholic feel to the finish. This brew is hugely quaffable, and as I have a graduation party to attend this evening, I am thankful that I only had 3 bottles in my shipment, as 6 or more would have prevented me from going anywhere today. Superb!! This is THE session brew of the century. The best brew I have had in quite some time. It’s MONSTER brews like this (and the ones from Great Lakes) that make me thankful to reside in Ohio.

Why can’t I get this in NYC? A great American ESB. Got mine through a beer club and 3 weren’t enough. Had to get a few cases right away! If you like bitters go out and find this one any-which-way you can!

I really like this beer. What a nice, full, dry-hopped nose, with a big, rich, malty body to match. A pleasure!

A really good micro ESB. very british. amber color, thin head. great hop bouquet and a complex taste that has a some malt but lots of great floral hops. very good stuff here - arguably the best american ESB

This is a very special beer. There are only a few in its class.

Wow! This is an impressive ale. As soon as you pop the cap on this one, you know it's going to be good. And it delivers. Impressive looking, smooth mellow flavor with a very rounded hop bitterness. Excellent. Just a tiny notch below Brutal Bitter.

I'm not especially impressed with other Crooked River products (save the fantastic dopplebock), and I'm always suspicious of high ratings on this site. But I tried this ESB long before ever coiming across this collection of beer drinkers, and I must say that the high ratings for this beer are no mistake. Nevermind that it is produced in fairly large batches and widely available. This is one of the finest ESBs you'll ever try. There may be better ones, but they are few and far between. Pretty in the glass, it is hoppy and nicely bitter, with a citrus touch. I love this beer with a nice steak or a juicy burger, as it is just robust enough to not be overshadowed by a hearty meal.