ESB
Tributary Brewing Co.

16oz can poured into a dimpled mug. Canned on date of 2/3/22.

A: Red-orange with some brownish hues, great clarity, persistent rocky and off-white head. Sheets of thinly veiled lacing cling well to the glass.

S: Very green and floral hop charge with some oiliness and a slight herbal/tobacco sharpness. Obvious British yeast aromas are musty, nutty, and redolent of orange peel and marmalade. Solid malt backbone of caramel, toffee, toasty biscuit, treacle syrup and candy shell.

T: More or less follows the nose. Lots of hop character up front: green, oily, herbal/tobacco, cut grass. Bitterness is quite firm. Yeasty with nutty and musty notes, flashes of estery orange zest and marmalade. Bit of minerality. Quick little hint of alcohol. Malt base brings a lot of crystal sweetness, toffee, toasted crust, treacle, etc. It never quite unseats the hop bitterness in the balance of things, but it comes close. Finish is some trailing nuttiness and toasty/toffee malt with a firm grassy and herbal bitterness that is still in control.

M: Medium-full body with some moderately heavy malt texture. Creamy and chewy with bit of a coating feel. Firm hop astringency rakes at the tooth enamel. Carbonation is firm and scrubbing.

O: It has admittedly been a long time since I've sat down to critically drink and analyze an ESB, so I took a sec to brush up on the style guidelines. This is more hop forward, bold, and brash in the balance of things, which is not actually out of line in a broadly interpreted style. The beers that I consider to be style benchmarks (Fullers, Adnams) do seem to favor malt though, and have a quintessentially British yeast character to them that is present here to a lesser degree. This comes across a little more rough around the edges, but not at all bad. I must also admit that I've only ever consumed my style benchmarks Stateside, so it could also be that the trans-Atlantic voyage takes the edge off of them a little by the time they get to my mouth. At any rate, it's a solid beer even if it isn't quite as complex and all-around drinkable as the Old World classics. Worthy of a drink if you, like me, find yourself gravitating more toward revisiting classic styles rather than the newest dry hop variant of your local brewery's DDH New England IPA.

Deep brown color where light passes through easily enough to know it's cloudy. Small but lasting head which leaves a nice blanket of lace on the glass.

The smell is sweet with plenty of brown sugar and light burnt malt. It falls somewhere between a Brown Ale and Scotch Ale.

The flavor is also sweet with a stronger toasted malt flavor than brown sugar. There's some balancing hop, though, which takes the taste out of the Scotch Ale category. It reminds me most of a Bock, if only because of the rich body and low carbonation.

On tappoured into a shaker pint

A: very little head body is fairly good clarity might be a haze from the chill. Body is an amber in color leaning towards caramel.

S: light bitterness some copper tones a little sharp malts and some floral hops.

T: Malty a touch bitter lots of pungent floral hops with rich buttering malts. A light bit of a copper taste.

M: medium bodied good texture medium carbonation.

O: This beer assaults your nose with hops but the malts really round this out in the taste making for a fairly easy drinking beer.

 

From a 32oz growler, purchased at the brewery 05/07/16. Served in a (Tributary!) tulip.

Pours a dark bronze-dirty copper, the color of an old penny, with barely a scant half-finger of short-lived head.

Nose is subdued, soft crackery malt, applesauce, astringent herbs and tobacco with a whiff of brandy.

The taste is mildly sweet with earthy, toasted malt, and faintly reminiscent of cider. The slightest astringent bitterness comes on the back end, embedded in a quick snap of dusty cocoa and charred grains, there and gone.

Mouthfeel is clean and crisp, light-to-medium bodied, with low carbonation.

Overall, this was a very good, albeit unusual (at least to me), beer which drinks like a cross between a 'black IPA' and a nice crisp cider. Despite its appearance (and stated abv of 6-point-something), it turned out to be light, refreshing and super-easy drinking. This would be a terrific beer for grilling on a hot, sunny afternoon. Bottom line: more please.

 

 

On tap at the brewery.
Big caramel and toffee with hints of chocolate and fruity English yeast. Light earthy hops and no Diacytyl. Nice beer if you are into this style.