12 oz bottle from lackenhauser as part of Veterans BIF.
Pour is a touch on the light side of amber and also gives quite a lot of murkiness. Head is average, dissipates quickly and leaves a little watery lace. The head is not too much of a problem, but the color and lack of clarity give me a little cause for concern.
Nose has plenty of sweet malts and a little fruit.
The tastes reflect some of the nose but also have a touch of acid and some prickly carbonation. The light acidity seems to replace the hop bitterness that otherwise might be there. Dry finish where I would like to see some more, biscuit like malts.
It’s OK, and I think has potential but to be honest I think this beer has some work to do. It’s either got to up the malts make it a typical English ESB, OR up the hop character to give it a bigger American twist. For now it sits somewhere between the two and it doesn’t quite make it.