River Horse Special Ale ESB

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

12 oz bottle. Pours a deep golden, light amber in color with a small to medium head. Aroma: grainy, lightly sweet caramel, nasty vegetables, some tea like stale hops. Taste isn’t better- actually it’s worse- watery body, with hints of caramel, floral hops, and pretty vegetal. Does taste almost like lipton ice tea. Maybe worse. Ugh.

12 oz bottle: pours amber brown with quick fading white head, aroma of slightly sour malt, flavor of simple hit of malt with a bittering hop added but no bite or hop floavor just bitter. simple brew, ESBs dont really hit the spot for me but even then this one is just an avg beer.

12 oz bottle. Pours a clear light copper body under a small fizzy quickly fading beige head. Light visible carbonation. The nose is slightly sweet with some noticable diacetyl and crystal malt. Hardly any noticable hops. The flavor is just lightly bitter with a caramel tinged crystal malt stale iced tea base. Really reminds me of Lipton sweetened iced tea. Mouthfeel is lighter bodied with a watery texture and fizzy forced carbonation. Overall, this was a slightly below average ESB. Lacking in hops with too much crystal malt.

Bottle. Slightly stale floral mash, a touch of apple juice and yeast, some earthy caramel. Key component seems to be the yeast, though. Extremely excitable, be careful with the pour! Soapish rocky white head. with a clear golden body. Taste is lightly sweet with light toast. Fruitiness will probably turn into veggies with time. Not an old bottle, but a little stale. Light body and as smooth as water. It’s not that it’s not British, it’s that it’s not particularly good.

12oz bottle from a River Horse Variety 12pk. Hazy copper color. Thin, white, lacking head. Pours like it came straight from a cask. Aroma has a honey, caramel, and cashew scent, with a bit of frasier fir (light pine) aroma. Very light scented. Flavor is light. Some honey and some caramel. Not much to it. Very English! Light bodied enough to enjoy during summer months. CHEERS!

man this beer sucks. Starts off with an unmistakable baby diaper aroma, has white particles and is not bitter at all. carbonation ok but taste not ok. taste fading instantly. no aftertaste whatsoever. TOO SWEET.

The beer is way overly carbonated. Each one in the six pack exploded all over when it was opened. Not much of an aroma or flavor. It is mildly malted, not much hoppiness. Not too good.

Date: February 08, 2006
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting
Appearance: golden brown, whispy head
Aroma: lightly sweet carmal malt aroma with light floral hops
Flavor: light malt flavor with a vegitable quality, light bitterness

Date: October 28, 2006
Mode: bottle
Score: i to ii
Aroma: light earthy hop aroma on a dry caramel malt base
Flavor: dry caramel malt flavor, light bitterness
Overall: boring but not infected

Aroma: 4/10; Appearance: 4/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.4/5.0
Drinkability: 5/10
Score: *4