McNeills Extra Special Bitter Ale

Brewed by McNeills Brewery
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Brattleboro, Vermont USA

In short: A yeasty messy hoppy beer. Surprisingly interesting mess.
How: Bottle 22oz, drank the day of purchase (therefore most likely very fresh)
The look: Cloudy orange body topped by a medium off-white head
In long: Nose is floral and citrus. Mouthfeel is like a pillow. Definitely very yeasty, a lot more than a “normal” ESB. This is a fluffy beer with citrus, wood juice, dry tree leaves, a little farmhouse thing, a few dried apricots, and some other stuff. The beer is actually quite messy and unfocussed. Feels like a amateurish lucky shot. The antithesis of the clean crisp beer. Whatever, when very fresh this is a surprisingly good mess. Props to McNeil’s to be capable to make a mess so enjoyable, when I make one of my own I need a mop and a whole lot of air freshener aerosol.

(Bottle). Aroma of hops and slight citrus. Pours hazy orange with a thick creamy head. Flavor difficult to pin down. Bitter with some sourness and citrus, and a very long pleasant finish. Overall, very different from Fuller’s ESB, with more of a bitter bite.

(22oz bottle) Pours an amber body with a small bubbly white head. Aroma of caramel, chocolate, and citrus. Flavor of caramel and hops (citrus, herbal).

red-gold. hoppy aroma. likewise, it tasted hoppy. slight spice in a medium body with a soft feel. didn’t stand out or seem like anything special to me, however.

Cask at McNeill’s. hazy amber beer, creamy tan head. Fresh hoppy aroma. Spicy and fairly woody. Nice fresh bready back note with a light mineral quality. Soft texture, with an excellent balance of woody UK-type hops and toasty pale malt. Lightly resiny.

Pours a hazy copper, amber color with only a moderate head and some lacing. While pouring it, it seemed a little flat. Tasted fine though. Hoppy, sweet aroma. Pretty nice. Tasted quite hoppy (although not too much), sweet with sugary notes that made it seem maybe a little sweet. Slightly bitter and spicy as well. Good overall tasting beer but a touch too sweet for me. Hops do dominate the flavor so be sure you like hoppy beers when you drink this one.

This beer is extremely drinkable and so would make a great pub beer. A little more hoppy than the avg. bitter but it works well.

Pours a nice peachy golden with some head. Significant English hop aroma.It was a nice bitter, with a bit of a background edge. FIne drinking but not the best bitter I have tried. Picked it up in August, but did not notice it expired in September, but I do not think that would make a significant impact.