Fire Station 5 Fire Drill ESB

Brewed by Portland Brewing Company (Pyramid)
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Portland, Oregon USA

The definition of the style has been ignored in packaging this beer. The malt bill and bittering hops are insufficient for an ESB. The hop aroma and sickly thin malt flavor would provide excellent competition for any silver can, which is what this beer should be packaged in.

What is this crap!?!?!?!? I rated this on the style, since it says ESB, I thought that it would in fact be bitter. From a bottle it had ok aroma, nothing special. But the taste is American baloney lagery. At least no corn aftertaste, but man...I’d never do this again. I can’t even finish the beer. Unquaffable.

Bottle in Anchorage AK: Reddish-amber with an average head of bubbles. Little activity. Seducing aroma ... hop bouquet. But the promise isn’t wholly fulfilled. Instead, I get a flat almost flavorless mass-targeted beer. This aims for some hoppiness but it doesn’t live up to the promise. Maybe I’m a bit harsh with it ... this is a good well-balanced concoction, but it just doesn’t stand out.

citric, fruity aroma; sweet body, a little metallic, and very slight bitterness in the end, a little toasty and grainy malt body; decent.

Bottle Pours a dark redish gold with a alittle head with just enough action to maintain a thin white film and lacing. Aroma is a bit of pears grapes and hops. Flavor is better than I expected from the "Fred Meyer" special. Green wood, hops, dark roasted grain. Slight bitter bite at the trailer. Finsih was smooth. Somewhat mellow for an ESB I think.

Medium orange gold color. Medium white foamy head. Aroma is malty and fruity. A medium bodied ESB. Malts are fruity and sweet. Hops are slightly bitter and grapefruity. Nicely balanced. Somewhat mild for an ESB, but it does have some hop bite. Touch of orange peel. Lively carbonation. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

Fairly boring sickly body, but topped with a luxurious pillowy white head. Aroma has a bit of salt and pepper, with some bell peppers, and a medium line of hoppiness with dried fruit aromas. Flavor is a bit bland, with none of the sharpness hinted at by the aroma. Sweetly but dully malty with not a great deal of hop flavor coming through. They did hit the carbonation level well, though.

#560 on my beershelf. Nice amber color with a little head. Much better than the other firestation 5 beers ive had. Had some great rich malty flavor with a hint of peach? i think. A little hops in the background to mellow out the malts and a smooth mouthfeel.