Goose Island 20th Anniversary Ale

Brewed by Goose Island Beer Company
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Chicago, Illinois USA

Cask Conditioned at the GTMW 2008: I was lucky to have a few samples of this before the crowds came in... The beer has a slight coppery haze with a lush frothy white head which left very nice lace upon my glass. The aroma is classic British bittering hops but with some PNW fruity acidity too. Biscuity pale malts and a hint of ripened pear esters, I really didn’t any woody or barrel influence. The taste is right what I expected and honestly wanted. Moderate even handed bitterness balanced by pale and sweet malts. Some fruit and even a touch of pepper upon the finish. The mouth feel is velvety smooth and creamy, soft carbonation made this very drinkable. YUMMY STUFF, MIKEY LIKEY!!!

20th rating of this beer, 750ml with silver wax from Chicagodori, shared with dalekliz. Pours orange with a 2 finger puffy tan head. Nose is sweet and quite nice. Taste is sweet and citrussy, and slightly bitter, overall a damn tasty beer. I like it.

Had a few of these on tap and was more impressed than i expected. For an ESB this had a very american hop feel to it, which is a great thing and definitely not a detraction. Overall a great brew and felt like a mix between a very good ESB and a mild IPA.

Bottle, thanks to WeeHeavySD for sharing! Pours a hazy dark reddish-amber with a small bubbly off-white head. Sweet and crisp aroma of malt, dark fruits, currants, wood. Crisp taste of malt, pine hops, grass, grapefruit, just a bit on the bitter side. Lingering crisp sharpness. Very tasty.

Tasted 4/30/08. Cask conditioned draft from the Clybourne brewpub. Filtered with a dark ruby hue. Toasty rye bready nose. Muted hops. Muted effervescence. Smooth sticky and crisp. On the fuller side of medium bodied. Good hop palate. So smooth. It has an almost smokey quality. Nice bitter hop finish. Totally tasty! One of my favorites from this visit.

750 mL bottle, approx. 1 year old: pours dark honey brown and opaque...thick creamy head sticking to edges and leaving three dimensional lace all around the glass. The Crystal hops are still strong in the aroma, gooey, bright and piney. Copious amounts of bitterness coat the tongue with orange rinds, caramel, and biscuity malts accompanying. Carbonation is fairly soft and nicely complements the lingering sweetness and the slightly astringent bitterness. Pretty good beer, but several of their other anniversary ESBs have been better...

Nice. It poured a hazy copper body with a lofty off-white head that coated the glass heavily with lace. It had a floral, earthy nose along with some caramel and toast. That caramel turns a bit dusty in the flavor, perhaps because of the increase in the hoppy bitterness, still floral but accompanied by a sharp citric bite. The finish is a moderate, prolonged bitterness. Good stuff.
Happy 20th Anniversary, GI-Cly! I wish you could be with us another score of years.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Island - Clybourn, Chicago, IL<font size=-1>

on cask at GI-Cly. pours hazy amber with white head. caramel and toasted biscuit aroma. flavors of caramel, toasted biscuit, and a cookie finish. a bit sweet but very clean and smooth. dangerously sessionable at 6.9%abv.3.7.

5/20/08, on draft sample and this is fruit punch hop notes are far more pronounced. this actually comes off as an ASA and similar to GI Debbies little helper whereas on cask this thing was a solid very drinkable more standard ESB. good stuff but better on cask. 3.3.