Southampton ESB

Brewed by Southampton Publick House
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Southampton, New York USA

Draught@The Ginger Man, NYC
Dark nutty brown color, off-white head. Nutty, mildly coffeish aroma. Palate is a bit on thin side. Flavor is dominated by woody-nutty malty flavors with some light and odd fruity notes. Very light licorice notes in the finish. Drinkable, but a bit bland to be in the "premium class" ESB.

On tap at the Southampton Brew Pub. Poured a medium amberish color with a smaller sized off white head. Aromas of toasted malts, light caramel, and tea hoppiness. Tastes follow suit. I liked this pint and enjoyed it even more since I was waiting for their RIS to go on sale!

Tap at the brewpub. Copper orange beer, thin white head. Too cold (as are all of their tap beers). Strong woody hop aroma, light orange pith. Light sweet malt. A little bit of earthy character to the malts as well. As it warms, the malt really starts to shine though. Slightly minerally nose. Seems a bit over-attenuated for the style... need to mash a bit higher next time. Nice earthy/woody hop flavour. Assertive bitterness adds to the dryness. Very drinkable, but I’d like a bit more sweetness up front. Still, no serious problems with this brew.

Draught, Publick House, Southampton. Head is fully diminishing. Body is light amber. Aroma is lightly malty (toasted bread), lightly hoppy (apricot), lightly to moderately yeasty (dough). Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. As with the Secret Ale (which I discovered the draught to be pretty much identical to the Saratoga bottling), quite dominated by raw vitamin B smell. A bit off-putting, but the flavor balance is fine.

Tap @ SPH. Poured a clear copper with an off-white head. Earthy and citrus hop aroma and flavor. Caramel malt makes up the base. Mild sweetness with an earthy dry moderately bitter finish. Light to medium body. I’m not an ESB fan but this wasn’t bad.

Tap at the brewpub. Pours a medium amber iwth a nice lasting thin beige head. Served way too cold, and I had to hold my hands around the glass for a while to allow it to warm up a bit. As it warmed, the aroma had nice fruity esters, and slight herbal and tea-like hops and light caramel malts. Flavor is very clean with light toffee, crystal malts, light crisp hops and a clean bitterness. Mouthfeel is a bit on the lighter side, but still very smooth, flavorful and easy to drink. Nice.

On tap at BT. Copper amber with a small head. Aroma is cereal and malt, hardly any hops. Although the aroma would make you this this stuff is sweet, its really not. Flavor is dry and malty with. Nice flour flavor. Toasty.

This was one of the few saving graces of the terrible experience that was NYC Beer on the Pier - thankfully I got to try this fine ale before I evacuated what was sure to become a huge frat boy grab ass and vomit party - this reminded me very much of another quality local ESB, Blue Point - much like that beer, this ale struck a perfect balance between its bitter and malt (bread, biscuit) characteristics - it had an almost creamy mouthfeel, and a lot of yeasty notes, especially for the style - I revisited this beer a couple of times before I high-tailed it out of there.