Jack of the Wood Green Man ESB

Brewed by Green Man Brewing (Jack of the Wood)
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Asheville, North Carolina USA

Draught at the brewpub. Pours brown amber with wispy beige head. The aroma is surprisingly nutty with some caramel hints and some earthy notes. The flavor is nutty with some caramel and toast. Faint brown sugar sweetness is in there, too, as is a mild bitterness and some fruity esters. Not bad for an ESB.

Draught at the brewpub. Had the carbonated AND cask versions. Both are a clear copper color with off white head that laced the glass. Sprucy hop nose. Flavor is a bit more balanced with the addition of earthy note and light skunky tone. Eh. The cask version smells a bit better with no improvement in the flavor.

On tap at the brewery. Nice amber color pour with light haze. Lightly sweet aroma though generally non-descript. Nicely balanced hops (spice and citrus peal) with sweet toasted malts. Light metallic hint and a bitter finish. I like a light metallic hint to my ESB. Interesting. Wet medium body. Nice ESB.

Not much to say about this one. Less hoppy than the IPA. Thin to medium mouthfeel. Don’t like this one much either.

Cloudy brown - woodsy and grassy aroma, with a nice smokey edge. Flavor is toasty and smokey, with an earthy edge, plus a pleasent hoppy finish. Nice session ale.

Very similar to their IPA with respect to appearance aroma and palate but the flavor is slightly more balanced than the IPA. Very earthy aroma and flavor. Good beer though. *** also had a cask-conditioned version of this brew which was fantastic! ***

On tap at the Jack of the Wood. They now rate this at 5.3% abv with 32 IBU’s. Amber color. No head. Extremely earthy. Tastes like worms. Not a good beer. Supposed to be fuggles hops here, but you can neither smell or taste them.

A bitter done right, but served way too cold. Let it warm up and you will be rewarded. Light hoppiness mixes with a mellow malting. Drink a few of these.