Goose Island 17 Year ESB

Formerly brewed at Goose Island Beer Company
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Chicago, Illinois USA

On tap at the brewery: Dark orange/brown, earthy/chewy goodness with a solid mouthfeel and rich bitterness. Excellent big beer.

Light mahogany in color with a creamy, ecru film that stayed and produced an excellent lace. Heavy malt aromas were roasted and cookie-ish with a light citrus undertone. Very well-balanced (aroma to flavor) with the taste showcasing the hops, starting moderately sweet but ending heavily bitter with a light, citric acidity. Smooth. Creamy. Excellent.

<font size=-4>On tap at <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Island Beer Company (Clybourn), Chicago, IL<font size=-1>

Cask @ Clybourn. Deep crimson and copper, super thick creamy off white head. Aroma was very nice with fruity English tones, nutty caramel, with a lighter tone of cherry lurking. The citric tones get near perfect balance with the dark sweet caramel-like malt. I could drink this stuff all day! Medium bodied, pillowy carbonation, soft fruity finish. One of the best ESB’s I’ve ever had...

Tap. Deep cloudy amber. This was a big one, and not at all what I expected. Very high hop character, thick and chewy body. This was a surprise. Smell was hoppy in an English way, very nice and pretty to look at. Taste was clean malts, a little fruity. No dust, which was good. Hops were a combination of the best English coupled with Bold Americans, I’d guess. Bitter and fresh. Well balanced across the tongue. A damn fine ESB from GI.

Cask. Clear amber body with a thick, fluffy eggshell (and slightly pink? Or is that the light?) head. Wonderfully crafted aromas of subtle, noble hops and sweet toffee, whole grains, caramel, light pine and a touch of soft fruit esters (peach, apricot and maybe even a bit of berry). The body is luxuriously smooth and creamy in the traditional, Goose Island cask style. Tasty sweet caramel malt with a nice hop bite. The hops provide the right amount of flavor and punch without being too bitter. Another winner from Goose Island and a wonderful gift to announce the spring season.

Cask: picturesque off the beer engine – slightly hazed darkly bronzed body with a full and retentive, thick tan cream. Perfect serving temperature. Dusty, soft malted fruit aroma with strawberries, hone suckle & sweet caramel. Palate is a bit too thin, but is soft and smooth. Flavours of lightly toasted grains, sticky fruits (berries & pears) and a nice long, dry finish of bitter grapefruity hops. Another stellar showing from the Goose Casks….

On tap at the clybourn location...Poured a rich brown with a thick lasting tan head. Left great lacing all the way down. Aromas were very malty with hints of orange and citrus. Flavors were similar to aromas with added hop notes and a bold mouthfeel. Very characteristic of a good ESB, very enjoyable from start to finish.

Tap at Clybourn: Hazy deep coppery hue with a small creamy head and very good lacing on my MBA glassware. The aroma has notes of apple and apricot, walnut, toffee, floral and light piney hops, and dusty esters. The taste starts with a fruity twang and has a nice rounded bitter component. Some light mocha, nutty and bready malt undertones add some complexity to palate. Has a yeasty and lingering bitter finish. The feel is refreshing and smooth with just a bit of hop bite to keep you interested. A top notch beer but not quite to British standards. I liked it enough to take a growler home. I would have loved to have tried this on a cask pour, but alas the cask beer of the day was the Golden Ale, sniff...