Flagship E.S.B.
Franklin's Restaurant, Brewery & General Store

I have to say, I'm sincerely impressed with the beer being brewed at this relatively new brewery near DC. I'm generally neutral on the ESB style, but I would actively order this one if I regularly went to Franklin's.

This beer has a deep, amber brown coloring with a nice, off-white, fluffy, pitted head head that sticks around long enough to still be a nose-sticking hazard on the third or fourth sip. Like the Private IPA, there's great lacing again. Quality appearance.

The nose belies the fairly malty character in the taste, with toasty grains and hop tanginess just creeping through. While this is good, it's probably the weakest element of this beer. I must say, however, that there were people smoking in the area, so I may have missed something in this respect.

I swear I tasted apples. That's the first thing that sprang to mind when I tasted this. Definitely sweet fruit like apples and pears. A nice hop bitterness evens out the majority malts, but in then end they come to a consensus that produces a very well balanced beer. So many ESBs, in my opinion, lack some of the more dramatic characteristics in other styles, but this one really stands out well.

Mouthfeel is creamy and full like a traditional British ESB, but there's enough carbination in this to remind you that this is American.

Above-average ESB. Quite good. Definitely deserves to be a regular.

A - Cloudy brown brew with a small head and a thin lacing ring.

S - Strong hop aroma, pine and citrus, with caramel and burnt malts.

T - Slightly soapy hops with a pine character and mild citrus, burnt and coffee malts.

M - Smooth, thin to medium bodied, refreshing.

D - Good. Worth having if you are at Franklin's. A flavorful ESB. Note - it is simply called ESB now, and not Flagship ESB.

This is a pint served at Franklin's in a standard tumbler.

A: The ale is a deep brown color with a slight amount of haze (as the beer is not entirely translucent. The head is a white color that laces nicely.

S: The ale has a nutty malt aroma.

T: The ale has a firm malty taste that is primarily nut and caramel. The hop body is fairly restrained and doesn't make much of an appearance.

M: The ale's malty character and slight hop flavor is good.

D: The ale is very drinkable, but for the 6% abv, this would be a session candidate.