River Horse Special Ale ESB

Brewed by River Horse Brewing Company
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Lambertville, New Jersey USA

Bottle. Pours amber with an off white head. Aroma is caramel malt, light fruit, citrus and maybe even apple. Medium body. Flavor is almost absent. Light caramel malt and even lighter bittering hops. Even as it warms it stays light and boring.

12oz bottle. poured a clear amber color with an off white head. Attractive aroma of malty caramel and brown sugar. Delicately sweet on the tongue with flavors similar to the aroma. There was also a bit of flowery hop. Decent beer.

Bottle - Courtesy of Afire. Well, it looks good and smells ok but thats about it. It was better than the Lager, poured with no head and clear amber copper. Hardly any carbonation throughout. Aroma of caramel but the flavor was empty, watery and blah. ESB! Would of settled for some sort of flavor. Not liking this brew either.

(USA) Courtesy of AFI96, thanks Waylo. There is a med-body amber color with a sm-white head. I detect a flowery / cherry aroma with a light smooth honey taste. The palate is kinda dry, but very drinkable !!!

Pleasant and easy to drink, fine with a simple meatloaf, but nothing extraordinary in any way. Slightly reddish amber, small white head, caramel malts, lightly hopped. Only Fullers can call a beer ESB, but this one isn’t E, S, or B.

bottle. pours a clear amber color with one inch of off-white head on top. smells like biscuit and toffee. not a whole lot of real flavor in the beer but a decent amount of bitterness in the finish. goes down very smooth and quick.

River Horse Special Ale ESB ABV: 5.5% Calories: estimated at 150C Volume: 12 oz Glass: tulip Purchased at: sampler at Glendale Liquors, Lawrenceville, NJ Price per fl oz: $14.99 / 144 fl oz = $0.10 per fl oz Consumed at: Home sensory first impression: A nice aroma - something sour and deep. Flowery, cherry, and honey. Reminds me of spring. Pours amber with a yellowed white head. Bumpy, then nothing. A deep orange brown body. Seems heavy. Activity is all over the mouth, but slightly chemical flavor. The vision of tea. Flavor improves with a minute to adapt. Very nice hop depth, but just a bit watery. Aroma/Olfactory: Malt flavor is: caramel, roasted, honey, peanuts. Tasty. Hop flavor is: very floral, wide field, weeds. Yeast flavor is: dry, dusty, thin film of cheese Other flavors include: clove, cinnamon, cake, ginger, chemical, medicine, cherries. Visuals/Appearance: Color is: pale, orange, brown, middle dark. Liquid is: clear, but with depth, like tea. Head and lace are: minimal, quiet. Taste/Flavor: Maltiness or Sweetness level is: medium Hoppiness or Bitterness level is: light to medium Sour level is: light Palate/Tactile: Body or Mouthfeel is: medium Texture is: sticky, gritty, salty Carbonation is: soft, flat Finish is: long, sweet, ends dark. Overall experience: Not bad, but not great. I liked the overall flavor signatures, color, and aroma. I did not like the chemical undertones, or the watery tendency.

THOUGHTS: Just a really bad beer. Not much better than a macro. I can’t see how this could be their flagship beer. If you try eating anything with it the food flavors completely overpower the little flavor the beer has. A little too much foam and fizz in this one. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a slightly hazy, light amber with beautiful carbonation, tiny to small particles of average to thick density and a gigantic rocky and sudsy, off-white head that mostly lasted and left good lacing. The aroma was light straw and some sour cherry or grape with some metallic notes as well. The initial flavor was lightly sweet, moderately to heavily acidic and sour, while the finish was sour with a short duration. The flavor was sour fruit, light caramel malt and watered down honey. The light body was dry on the tongue, but watery prior to that with kind of fizzy carbonation and a moderate to heavy astringent finish that was also a little metallic.