All Nighter ESB
Banner Beer Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A- Poured from the can to a tulip glass for reviewing purposes. Dark red bodied with a slight yeasty haze. Head is frothy with lackluster retention as it falls to a ring quickly after reaching about one finger high. Lacing has some webs but is mostly spotty.

S- English ale yeast and malts come to mind first and foremost with some hops following. Things that come to mind are toffee, nutty malts, toasted grains, slight butter, caramel and earthy/herbal English hops.

T- The first thing I notice is the hops open up quite a bit compared to the nose with herbal, spicy, earthy, grassy and English tea-like notes. They do not dominate but are significant to the build of the flavor. Malts provide a base of toffee, brown sugar, toasted, nutty and caramel/crystal flavors. Fruity esters, apple, raisin and bread comes to mind from the yeast used here.

MF- Light bodied with a texture that is foamy and somewhat creamy. Carbonation at a medium-high end level is smooth, no bite to the palate. Finishes with a substantial bitterness that is rounded out by the semi-sweet malts.

The balance of flavor here is quite nice and provides a drinkable, refreshing English inspired ale to sip on. It does feel a bit light but honestly there is nothing wrong with that in an ESB. Satisfying interplay between herbal UK hops and toasted malts with just enough yeast to keep things interesting.

 

Yay cans, adn even a bottling... er canning date, 12/10/13.

Pours into my goblet wtih a nice creamy slight frothy 1 finger tan head that fades at a med pace with light whisps of lacing, semi clear but darker colored apple juice brown with a slight reddish hue.

Nose starts with some sweet malts, a little candy bready malt like, bit of caramel and candy toffee like malts, reddish sweet malts. Then hops, grassy and a bit earthy, little herbal and leafy, slight perfumey tea.

Taste starts with more of the sweet malts, but kicks right into hops, again that earthy herbal U.K. style ESB hops, with lots more herbal tea, nice bitterness, some leafy grassy flavors too. Malts bring some sweetness, candy, caramel, little toffee and biscuity malt, etc. There's a hint of an apple like fruit in the middle too. Finish is pretty dry and fairly bitter, the earthy herbal hop bitterness really ramps and gets pretty heavy, more tea and herbal hop flavors, mild sweet candy caramel malt also there.

Mouth is med bod, nice fluffy carb.

Overall not bad, a pretty decent ESB, although not my fav style I can enjoy one from time to time. This one doesn't get too crazy herbal and unpleasant, it's still manageable and fairly tasty, either that or I'm adapting to those crazy U.K. hops. nice bitterness, nice sweet malty balance, pretty tasty, and in a can that's even dated!

Dark amber color. Good starting head that settles to rim bubbles. Leaves plenty of streaky/ring lace.

Oily, semi-sweet crystal malt nose. Initially, I thought it was off. This smells like a strong Red ale.

Low carbonation with a rather rich body. Definitely thicker than most ESBs. Leans to the sweet but there's a surprising earthy hop kick. Well-balanced with a long lasting but subtle aftertaste.