That's The Badger
Block 15 Brewing - Southtown Tap Room

Can from Market of Choice

A clear amber with a dense off-white head with good retention and lacing. The nose is spicy and fruity with a prominent Old world candied citrus character lending a nice brightness to a toasty, nutty base beer. Fermentation is a little cleaner (well, sterile) than a typical English ESB. The palate opens clean, fruity, mildly earthy and with a delicate nutty bite along with a little toffee and buckwheat. The mid-palate is clean to a fault, with more malt character present. Drying, mildly bitter on the finish, creamy carbonation. Quite great.

I love ESB and was excited about this, but it doesn’t have the English profile I’ve grown to be spoiled by from Town Hall.

Can. White head. No lace. Clear golden orange color.

Lots of spice and rye bread. Toasted crackers, zesty/spicy hops and some citrus. Caramel.

It’s a solid beer, but I wouldn’t have guessed this to be an esb. Tastes more like a malty apa or rye pale ale.

Look: Bronze with hints of red and my pour initiates a poofy white head to quickly form and slowly crater to a lid, leaving copious amounts of lacing behind
Aroma: Freshly baked bread, fruity esters, earthy notes, a little toffee, toasted bread, and caramel
Taste: Fresh and toasted bread, caramel, and lightly toasted buts come on strong as a trio and develop depth as light fruity notes linger in the backdrop. Toffee enters the picture and joins the malty goodness while light spicy and earthy hops pop in enough to keep it balanced through the close
Mouthfeel: Full, clean, medium-high carbonation, and clean on the finish with just a kiss of dryness from the earthy hops
Overall: This is tasty stuff. A big time sucker style for me and one I’ll try anyone’s take on so having had at least one from these folks in the past, figured it would be good and it is. Checks all the style boxes, is well-made, and really delicious to imbibe. Definitely worth checking out

 

16oz can

Pours a finger of white head into my nonic. Retention is somewhat poor, and the head fades within a minute. Lacing is webbed. Body is a dark orange, not quite amber, lighter than most other ESB's I've had. Despite the head, it looks pretty decent.

At first the nose is faint and reflects that lighter body. Some caramel, a touch of bread, and maybe just a slight estery character. Some noble hops pierce through after some time. Minerally. Once it gets a chance to open up, this shows some nice depth.

Flavor starts out with a nice maltiness, caramel. Noble hop flavor comes out with a little time. Esters come out very late, after substantial warming. Kinda settles on a rustic flavor. Somewhat light overall, but not bad.

Carbonation is medium-low. Body is on the lighter side. Any sweetness is very low. Bitterness is medium-low. Mouthfeel is serviceable, and it smooths out nicely as it warms.

Drinkability is good.

Overall not bad, but hard to get much character out of it until it warms for about 30 minutes.