Great Divide HotShot ESB

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

Small, fizzy offwhite head, fades quickly leaving behind some stringy laceing. Clear, light copper colored ale. Nose is dry malts, caramel, fruity with a hint of citrus. Body is lightly medium, crisp. Caramel malt on the palate, dry, lightly citrusy hop notes, grainy. Dry fruity finish. An easy quaff.

hazy amber hued brew topped with off white head. floral aroma with a hint of grapefruit, the flavor is classic pale ale with proper bitterness. a nicely done esb.

Hazy orange, nice white head that recedes to a thin, fine layer in a few minutes. Grass, hay, and orange over a sweet caramel aroma. Medium body with very light carbonation. Light sweet malt flavors and a citrus hop bitterness that is nicely thirst quenching. Certainly more assertive in its hop character than most ESB’s, almost leaning more toward a pale ale.

wrap any orb in this brew’s radiant hue and you’ve got what’ll pass for an orange; in my snifter the half orange effect is heightened by the quickly vanishing head-- and then on top of it you have a bright florida citrus aroma. of course drinking it for breakfast will spoil the illusion. i think i’d have to spend a summer in england to appreciate the style fully, but this "ESB" walks like a pale, quacks like a pale, and doesn’t have nearly the ’magic of malts’ like i remember in a product like the fullers. be-boppin’ carbonation, watery feel, almost medium bodied. seems reasonably balanced, though hops are slightly more assertive with thier tang than the malts are with their mild, fairly dry waffle effect. good drink, it washes down a sandwich okay. but neither a duck nor an orange make captivating company for long.

An amber appearance with a moderate head. The aroma is fruit filled with orange, cherries, and some caramel. The flavor is malty and creamy with some toffee, caramel, oranges, and lemons. It leans more toward the pale side while keeping many ESB traits. The finish is rather bitter. A different twist on the style but I liked it

Small, light tan head and a dark amber body. The hops came through and then the light malt, not as balanced as I would like. It was medium bodied, the malt was in there somewhere. Good mouth feel. The aftertaste is entirely hops.

Bought a six(bottled January, doesn’t say what year, by the tast of it, I would say 2004). Word to wise, try to avoid buying beer from total wine unless you know it is fresh, and the beer has preservatives and doesn’t need to stay refrigerated...ok..back to the beer)....I think I received a bad batch. The first beer I opened smelled and tasted sour. The second one had an explosive pour (much head, but not the right head). Poured orangish tan, little pieces of orange/round stuff (?) settled in the bottom Citrusy/fruity smell. Not much taste at all besides the hops, very watery. Not sweet at all. Might try to find this again, but I have to assume the beer went bad on this one.

This beer pours a glossy burnt orange, I poured softly and still put forth a thick 2 in head beige in color. The aroma is fruity, the smell is grapey a similar smell to the fermentation room in a winery with a bitter aspect. The taste is good, clean, light carbonation. The feel on the palate is tannic mildy bitter but balanced with a caramel malty sweetness that finishes mildy. Great beer fantastic style.