Schlafly Winter ESB

Brewed by Saint Louis Brewery
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Maplewood, Missouri USA

Oct 06 bottling. Head is initially small, frothy, off-white, mostly lasting. Body is medium amber. Aroma is lightly to moderately malty (toasted grain, cookie), lightly to moderately hoppy (apricot), trace yeast (dough), with a light note of candied mango. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Medium to full body, watery/syrupy texture, lively carbonation. As with some other Schlafly brews, there’s not enough finishing bitterness to clean things up, but it’s reasonably nice in most ways.

On tap at the tap room. Aromas of caramel, toffee, strawberries and a hint of pine. Bright ruby red in color with a thin, white head. Sweet caramel flavor with a touch of pine hop balance and some grainy-ness in the finish. Perhaps a little too sweet? Medium-light body and light carbonation. Didn’t notice the 6.8%, but I’m glad I didn’t have two of them. Overall it is a nice malty beer, but needs more hop balance.

Bottle from Duane. Brilliant amber in color decent off white head. Well balanced aroma and flavor. plenty of caramel with just enough hop bitterness to keep from cloying. Highly sessionable, great crossover beer.

This has a really nice pour, a bright copper body with a tall creamy head that laces the entire glass in a variety of styles. Floral and herbal hops cover a swet, bready malt aroma. It’s got a biscuity malt flavor with a sharp bitter surge coming in midway through the drink. It finishes on an herbal bitter note. Pretty good.

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Thanks to Indra (I think) for this one! Medium orange amber, light haze, very nice head, quite attractive. Aroma was of green, fresh hops. Flavor was bit of biscuit oriented malt, and a good dose of bitter, slightly grapefruit oriented hops. A bit of greenness in there as well, perhaps Fuggles? And a touch of earth. Not bad at all in fact.

Clear amber color. White head that died down to a slight ring around the edge. Somewhat floral aroma, but also an acrid, almost stinging bitterness as well. Something about English hops or malt just don’t sit quite right with me. A well-made beer, just not my style. Oh well...

Poured a nice amber color from the bottle. A good foamy head which did reduce but still maintained a nice layer of froth. Decent hop nose. Good balance of malts strong but not overbearng hops. Very good beer.

From a 12 oz. bottle with a bottled on date, Oct.24.06, with a blurb on the neck label. Poured a nice clear copperish amber with a frothy, fluffy white head, good retention, that slowly settled into a thin creamy lacing, fair amount of ringed laced sticking. Aromas of toasted grains with a little chalk, very slight whiffs of rye, fruity and a tad floral. Good steady carbonation and a crisp, creamy smooth medium-light bodied mouthfeel. A good toasted malty taste with a nice hop bitterness, grainy with the rye flavor more pronounced than in the aroma, a touch of butter, fruity and a bit earthy, the hops have a soft, but lingering bitterness and a dry grainy, earthy, buttery caramel finish. Good ESB from Schlafly, tasty and balanced, and to my personally taste, much better when fresh than when it get six months old or older.