Goose Island 19 Year ESB

Growler shared at ’Biegaman’s Summer Gathering’ -- courtesy of Lexx, all the way from Chicago. Hoppy Kool-Aid aroma - nice. Sweet nutty taste - tastes liked kicked up beery iced-tea. Interesting hops and malt here, not your run of the mill stuff. Sugary. Very nice and quite drinkable. Huge thanks to Lexx for the opportunity to try this growler!

Sampler at Clybourn. Ruddy brown, semi-opaque pour with a slight glown when held to the light. Thin foam. Definite American slap of Amarillo and other Pacific hops. A nice US twist on a traditional English style, combined with well-tuned crystal malts. Dances on the tongue. GI makes some nice extreme beers, but the session styles at the brewpubs are equally worthy.

Draught. At the Clybourn brewpub. Poured hazy dark copper with an average on-tap off-white head. Pleasant if mild somewhat bitter aroma of fresh grassy hops and caramel light malt aroma, very mild alcohol. Very soft and easy-drinking taste, quite hoppy but not aggressively so, grassy to herbal hops spread liberally over a solid, sweet, malty body, the finish is balanced, definitely has a bit of booze to it, but not too sweet - reminded me a bit of an organic herbal iced tea at one point. Decent ESB body - pehaps a little thick, nice restrained astringency, very mild carbonation, quick flavour finish but it did leave a bit more alcohol on my palate than I’d expect from a classic ESB. Tasty, though - nicely hoppy without being overdone.

Chicago trip. Monday 14:17+. Muddy dark amber-orange/copper. No head. APA hop aroma. IPA taste with a strong malt body and finish. Sweet notes of alcohol. The alcohol dominates creating a dark IPA-malt liquor flavour.

Pours a deep dark iced-tea color. Quite sweet and heavier body. Not a huge fan, have had many better ESB’s from GI...

Growler shared at ’Biegaman’s Summer Gathering’ -- courtesy of Lexx, all the way from Chicago . Pours a cloudy orange-amber with a small diminishing off-white head. Very nice aroma of floral hops, caramel malt, citrus and other fruit. Flavour follows the aroma: floral hops backed by caramel malt along with some citrus and toffee and a pleasant bitter finish -- very refreshing and flavourful. Medium bodied. A somewhat unique take on the style, I really enjoyed it.