Great Divide HotShot ESB

Formerly brewed at Great Divide Brewing Company
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Denver, Colorado USA

The aroma has pine and citrus hops, nuts, light fruit, and bread. The appearance is a deep gold with a giant tan/white head. The flavor is very malty, with medium bitter hops that have pine and citrus. The palate is average for the style. This is pretty good.

Pours a solid brownish/amber color. Aroma is a mildly dry malt flavor. The taste is a solid bitterness with a mild hop finish. A good flavorful party type beer. No too weak and not too overpowering.

Pours a hazy bronze with brown kind of gross sediment. This might be due to this beer having sat around, it was either bottled 4 or 16 months ago, but the aroma doesn’t seem to have suffered. Floral and fruity hops with a light malty sweetness. The mouthfeel is really very nice, foamy and thick, with a bit of viscosity to it, uncommon for a session style, especially with so little CO2. The creaminess is a bit odd, but not unpleasant. The age on this bottle may have begun to show in the flavor however. While it’s completely appropriate for the style, light with low malt a decent hopping, there is more dull bitterness than I would expect given the aroma. Big flowers, creamy, light sweetness with a dull earthy bitterness that lingers in a less than pleasant manner. I will rerate this when I get a bottle I can be sure is fresh, but until then, I gave it a 1 point benefit of the doubt bonus.

Orange, cloudy, fluffy white head. Long black/brown stick-like particles floating in it, unlike any sediment I’ve seen in a beer,strange. Smells hoppy and citrusy. Palate is very light and fluffy, a little carbonation. Flavour is a bit watery but its bitter with a slight fruitiness, some caramel, and spicy. Very subtle bitterness lingers for a while. Its definitely highly drinkable, but the flavour and the aroma are both too weak for it to be really enjoyable.

Pours a five+ finger white head that fades to a thin layer leaving spidery lace. Nearly clear amber color, with whiteish brown chunky bits at bottom. Light carbonation and medium bodied. Mild hoppy nose. Starts hoppy but not overbearing, lingering bitter aftertaste. Bottled October 2002 - seems fresh. $1.70 for a 12oz bottle from Colonial Spirits Acton, Ma.

Clear, orange/amber body with a full offwhite head. Overall a muted aroma - mostly citrus hops, with very little maltiness. Tastes hoppy and metallic, with a metallic and slightly dry aftertaste.

(Bottled during the third week of December 2005) The palate starts off metallic then turns hoppy. The nose is rather restrained, but does come on as the beer warms. Overall, a very serviceable ESB that is quenching and satisfying.

From bottle. Pours a cloudy, dull orange with thin off-white head. Something like an oil slick can be seen on the surface as the head disappears. Nose is a lightly sweeten orange and some yeast. Flavor is similar to nose, but thin. Some bitter in the finish.