22oz bomber, $3.99. Thanks go out to YonderWanderer for this trade.

First off, a cubed ESB makes no sense at all. I don’t know what the brewery is trying to achieve here, but what they end up with is a pretty aggressive, relatively unbalanced, American double IPA.

Pour has a typical DIPA orange/brown hue, with some chill haze. A nice head with some lace and retention. Aroma has a really raw, organic grassy resin to it. Very piney.

Taste is not all that aggressive in terms of hops, BUT it is extremely bitter. Not well balanced by malts and the package doesn’t really come together that well. Not bad, but too raw for my liking. Edgy bitternes without subtlety.

This is not an ESB at all. Perhaps you could put it into the American Strong Ale category, but its malts are a little too weak for that as well. It essentially drinks like a DIPA.

Drinkability is not good – simply to bitter and not well balanced. A beer that needs some work I would say.