Knightro ESB - Beer Camp #23
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

Very dark esb, its pretty much brown and creamy, good 1/2" tan head. Aroma was that English/Burton thing, old world wood, old world hops and cascades.

Taste was good, plenty hoppy, a little too creamy for my tastes, but I get the idea. Toasted caramel and toffee. Delivers on the bitterness. Tastes like snpa without Chico yeast and different carbonation.

Funny, WOB has it listed as a stout, but closer to ESB as BA has it I think. I was expecting stout feel/taste but this was still good as a nitro

 

 

On tap at the 30th anniversary party.
Black in color, mild tan head to it. Aroma was somewhat flat, faltering, whatever term you want to use, didn't come across as roasty, chocolaty, hoppy or any other scent you would expect to come across when drinking a Sierra Nevada.

Very light body despite its appearance, was like a slightly hoppier Guinness. The nitro use really smoothed things out here. Would love to have these available to get people into 'dark' beer without having to scare them away with big alcohol and thick roasty tastes. Mild elements of chocolate and caramel to a lesser extent.

On-tap at Mr. Dunderbak's.

A - It pours a brassy amber hue, slightly hazy, capped with a whipped froth head as one would expect given the nitro-pour. Retention is good, lacing is excellent.

S - It smells like a Sierra Nevada brew. In fact, it smells just like a two-to-three-month-old SN Pale Ale. I have a hard time discerning the major difference here.

T - As was stated about the aroma, so must be said of the taste. On its own, it is indistinguishable from the SN flagship Pale Ale. It is likely that subtleties would arise when given to a head-on comparison, but then again it is not unlike SN to tread out a near-twin brew of an old standby dressed up with a fancy new title (e.g. SN Grand Cru [glorified but unglorious Celebration Ale]).

M - The nitro adds smoothness, but if you didn't already know that, I doubt you'd be reading this. Next.

D - Pretty run-of-the-mill for SN, which translates to a great-tasting and easy-drinking brew at a moderate-to-reasonable pricepoint.

Pours opaque brown in color with a creamy 1/2 inch tan head that had zero bubbles and lasted about 2 minutes; it looked like a layer of chocolate ice cream on top of a Guinness and had the dark murky look of a beautiful stout. Very impressive looking that left very good lacing with foamy rings clinging to the side after each sip.

Smells of light roasted malt, coffee, cocoa, toffee, grains, light hops, biscuit, caramel and light yeast; maybe some dark fruit, but it was very faint.

Tastes like it smells with roasted malt, coffee, cocoa, grains, muted hops, vanilla, caramel and light yeast; a hop bitterness at the end with a very dry finish and an overall tasty and robust flavor.

Mouthfeel was creamy smooth with zero (none) carbonation, a medium body and a nice long lasting flavor with a slight acidic end. THE smoothest beer I've ever drank: went down like chocolate milk.

Highly drinkable for any stout fan, or as the "bitter" definition goes, as this was a great beer. I could easily drink this beer all night at a bar, or playing darts, or for breakfast...go try this beer if you can find it as I highly recommend it.

On draft at Rattle n Hum, NYC.

Poured a deep murky brownish amber hue with a two finger creamy off white nitro head. There was excellent retention and lacing.

The smell featured toasted malts and a grassy hop.

The flavor was well balanced with layers of toasted malts and caramel, finishing with a grassy and leafy hop spice.

The mouthfeel was full and silky.

Overall a superior ESB. Outstanding on nitro.

Even a day after it was tapped, this nitro pour ESB collaboration between Sierra & the Three Penny bros. was exceptional. This was the last keg left of this brew, and it lacked any discernible aromas. Otherwise, the mouthfeel was too good making drinkability all too easy. It has toasty malt body that lends a pleasant sweetness balanced with the earthy hop profile for perfect balance. Wonderfully integrated...a treat to have this East meets West coast Knightro.

At the Coppermine Pub in North Arlington, NJ. Special promo..apparently only 4 kegs of this stuff made its way east to NJ. Anyway, I'm glad I went. Off the nitro tap, into a pint glass, poured amber with expectedly little carbonation, but with two fingers of white head and great retention and lacing. As is typical with most of Sierrra's offerings, a big pine in the nose, but also biscuit, toast, and some molasses/maltiness. The flavor was impressively balanced between the piney Cascade essence and the biscuit/maltiness, with a great dry toast finish. The mouthfeel was excellent; very smooth, almost creamy when taken down with the head (which lasted the entire session), and no spritziness. Very nice example of how a bitter should feel like. Excellent for sessioning (I certainly had a few), but my only glaring criticism would be that it needs more fruitiness (apple, pear, etc) in the flavor mixed in with the maltiness and Cascades.

(Btw, I believe that the abv was around 5.5%, but I may be off a little.)