Redhook ESB

Brewed by Redhook Brewery
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Woodinville, Washington USA

This is a really nice beer. i usually have this in draft on Bald Head Island, but had to settle for a bottle in KY on visit. Full of malf, obvious from opening the bottel, but really well balance with not too much carbonation, great golden amber color, and enough hops to finsh well.

Bottle. Slightly grainy, nearly extracty aroma with light grapefruit and yeast. A little gold and near-fuggle. Amber orange, clear and pale with a short beige head. Taste is lightly bitter, dry and finishes slightly bready with some grain. Medium body and lightly crisp. Yellow-soapy, lightly hoppy, a little too much earthy grain and dust. Nice little sipping session, nothing spectacular, but not going to refuse it.

Pours transparent burnt orange with some carbonation bubbles. Medium sized tan head that fades with decent lacing. Flavor is nicely balanced with some hops and some malt flavors. Jjust balanced and smooth and relatively easy to drink. It was better than I thought it would be.

You know, this is pretty much a standard ESB, which means it’s by all means drinkable but will also not change your life. You could do better, you could do a lot worse.

Recommended to me by a fellow drinker, this didn’t pass my expectations. I didn’t appreciate the moldy aroma along with the stale aftertaste. Could be old from what I experienced but I will probably not be willing to crack open another one of these for a while.

A pretty good beer. Not nearly as bitter as I thought, and felt it had nice balance to it. Copper in color, poured a small white head. Not too much lace left on the glass. A strong hoppy flavor with a hint of bitter fruits at the end. Again, pretty good balance to it. Also much smoother than I thought it would be. Certainly would get it again.

Nice bready aroma. Pours amber with a fairly small head and modest lacing. Flavor is bitter hops with a generous amount of lightly roasted malts. The hops win by a slight margin and it has a decent finish, slightly bitter. A good ESB a little above average. If you are looking for the ultimate ESB this isn’t it. I had a large glass of this on tap in Seattle many years ago and was very impressed. Don’t now if my tastes have evolved or the beer has become more mainstream. Often found on sale here in the Northwest.

(cleaning out my beer bottle collection as pictured in my profile and utilizing ratebeer.com) As I recall, nice light brown ESB with darker flavors of malt and caramel, yet bitter. Nice creamy head.