Schlafly Winter ESB

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

One of the best beers I’ve had from Schlafly. I think I got sick of it though, I’ve had a lot of it, which is a damn shame. Damn shame.

this brew made me feel like i had to go to a seminar on dental care but i ended up in a class about european weather.

12 oz bottle generously sent by Sethdude, thanks dude! Cellar temperature, Samuel Smith pint. Pours a magnificent smooth off-white very stable head atop a cloudy/translucent orange-amber body...rich malty-caramel nose with hints of vanilla....full-throttle solid ESB body, light herbal bitterness throughout with solid malt underpinnings, oaky and moderately dry body....elegant, relatively dry version of style is readily quaffable and beautiful to behold.

Bright copper color with a small off-white head. Small amount of lace. Dry aromas of malt and caramel. Initial floral scent that seems to diminish after a few minutes, but is remembered and missed. Quite dry from the start as well, but quite malty in the finish and linger. Some mild raisin and currant flavors adrift mid to late quaff. A mild astringency late knocks it down one, but still quite pleasant.

Pour is nice clear amber with a thin white head...smell is nicely sweet and spicy with lots of nice hops giving a melon quality to the very doughy aroma...taste is strongly bitter for an ESB, but not in an IPA way...sweet doughy flavors up front turning into a growing mild bitterness...very well done!!!

(Thanks to TAR for this one) Crisp, dry and fruity. Apples and cherries. Peppery and spicy with the hops. Nice and bitter, but not strongly. This is a very well crafted ESB. Nothing about it is particularly impressive, but it is a well rounded beer.

(12 oz bottle: Obtained in trade with iwantalambic, thanks Justin!) Bottled With Love on 26-Oct-05. Whoa, surprisingly hoppy for an ESB, but the mildly sweet pale malt profile seems pretty timid in comparison. I can really taste the grassy hops in this rather than just vague bitterness, though the level of bitterness isn’t exactly shy here either. Slightly grassy and grapefruity hops aroma. Medium bodied, crisp and somewhat clean, pretty standard carbonation mouthfeel. The beer is light amber in color with near perfect clarity. The off-white head rises to almost an inch before settling down to a wide ring and leaving sporadic patchy lacing on the glass. Overall, I’m reminded of a very hoppy English ale rather than the American ESB I was expecting, though I would have known better had I read the label. It’s a pretty decent beer and the flavor of the bitter hops is pleasant, but for my tastes, there’s far too little malt to keep the hops balanced.

good ale with a strong abv to make it quite the session winter ale; bold drinkin’ ale, earthy with some cute subtleties--apple, chalkdust, grapefruit, floral, caramel, a bit of malt-like spice, and on, but not much on... although i quite liked it.