Your favorite ESB

Red Hook is the only (thing labelled as) ESB that comes to mind as being readily availably around here and I suspect that, the times I've had it, it had been sitting on the supermarket shelves for a long, long time. At any rate, I remember having had it fresh at the brewery a number of years ago and resolving never to buy it bottled again (probably not what they intend when they offer those tours and tastings).

Tributary Brewing in Kittery makes an excellent ESB. No canning, growlers only, but definitely worth a five minute detour if you're travelling up the coast out of Boston.

 

Well, closer to ~5% of the total US beer market - IPA's are 25-30% of the 12.2% of the beer market that is considered "Craft"....

 

Fullers is indeed great on cask and good from the bottle

Other non new world hopped stronger bitters that I like are

St Austell HSD, Admiral Ale
Hook Norton Old Hooky
Gales HSB
Batemans Victory
Harveys Tom Paine

 

I do enjoy the style and agree with @TongoRad ... Steel Wheels is a fine beer made not far from where I live.

 

My figures were from a big beer distributor on long island. He said he can't sell too many of the less popular styles.

 

Green Man ESB

 

If you find yourself in London, you absolutely have to find a good pint of Fullers ESB from hand pump in a good pub. The bottled version in the US is just no comparison to the surprisingly hoppy version that you get from a fresh, living cask. They are literally two different beers.

 

Climax ESB is a fantastic beer but it's very difficult to find... even in NJ.

 

Amen. And it has to be a well kept pint, otherwise the flavours taste muddled. When perfectly conditioned it's like a caramel IPA. Hmm, I may have just invented another style.

Dammit, this evening I'm gonna drive 12 miles to the only pub around my way that regularly serves it.

 

Lovely stuff. A few years ago I mentioned to a landlord that I had a birthday coming up. He asked me what beer I would like and I said "Fuller's ESB"
On my birthday I had a lovely fresh pint of ESB. But next day it was better and the day after that it was superb. Unfortunately that was the last pint out of the cask !

 

From a bottle in a store in the U.S I really enjoy Fuller's ESB. I can't imagine how good it would taste in a cask.

 

I was in Philadelphia yesterday and to my good fortune Yards ESA was on cask at the Khyber Pass: http://www.phillytapfinder.com/bar/khyber-pass-pub/

This beer was excellent! A very enjoyable malt backbone including some caramel flavors accompanied by nice fruity flavors from the yeast used to ferment this beer.

This beer is indeed a beer of beauty and the cask format just makes this beer’s flavor ‘shine’ even more.

Unfortunately the bar was very dark so the best I could do to aid in taking a good photograph was some backlighting by the tiny candles they had on the bar.

Cheers!

@zid @kellyst @Hoppsbabo @Premo88 @utopiajane

 

Fuller's ESB was my favorite beer until Alpha King came along. In fact when I first tried alpha king i thought it bared a resemblance to an ESB(i know now it's just a marketing term)
Probably my greatest "woah! is this beer amazing" was when I had Fuller's 1845 on draft about 10 years ago...I think 1845 is even better than ESB. Kind of like the ESB but bigger!
Outside of those Lord Rear Admiral by 3F's is excellent as well.
Abbott ale on draft is glorious too(i know it's not considered ESB)

 

though i havent had many, Fullers ESB on the british flights i took saved the day, but in the US i really enjoyed Left Hands Sawtooth Nitro

 

Local offering from Northampton Brewery is Daniel Shays Best Bitter. Usually
available at the site. Bottled offering is Timothy Taylor's Bolt Maker. For me strikes all the
right notes. As a an side, my best experience with an ESB was on cask at Mcniels in Brattleboro.
a long time ago, Ray is an idiosyncratic brewer who hit this pitch perfect. Alas no more.
Cheers

 

Fuller's was my first and still my favorite!

 

Short's Autumn Ale is a seasonal ESB that I look forward to every fall. I believe it was a medal winner at GABF quite a few years back, too.

 

I really didn't believe how hoppy it was until I tried it for myself. Even on draught in the US, it's just a really malty pale ale with barely any hop balance and it's funny because a whole generation of American brewers made "ESB" as a style based on the stale, malty old version that we get here and they usually don't even taste like the real deal when it's fresh.

 

I've always liked Southern Tier Harvest. Very interesting for a Fall seasonal.

 

Boltmaker,lovely beer that it is,is a session bitter.