Horsethief English Bitter
Big Horse Brew Pub / Horse Feathers & Co.

Look: bright copper, orange, wonderful, simply perfect color and look

Smell: sweet, savory, malt is thing but a good hopness

Taste great esb! english yeast is perfect, hop choice is amazing, slight peanut esters coming through very very tasty.

Mouth feel the aftertaste is a bit thick but drinks well in the summer

Drink great sitting on the deck at the pub

Without seeing this beer all that well in the dim lighting of the bar, I took one sip and immediately tasted the lush vital redness of the malts. Sure enough, a visual inspection in focused light revealed a body whose clear essential amber tilted heavily towards the color of marischino cherries. Horsethief sports a sexy, freakish juicyfruit smell. The taste emulates this smell, which is culled from fragrant earthy malts with only a modest bittering constraint. There is also a hint of peatiness which seems to be a hallmark of Big Horse’s more Anglicized beer styles.

Horsethief takes successful liberties with the English bitter style, inviting a fruitful panoply of malts to set the stage. The malts roll over you, reeling and jigging their way across the palate. Everything about Horsethief is clean and approachable, and just slightly musty or wooden. The lace is absent and the head is skimpy. But the pleasure is obvious.