Stoudt’s Scarlet Lady Ale
Brewery: Stoudt's Brewing Co.
Where: Adamstown, Pennsylvania
Style: Extra Special Bitter
IBU: 32 IBU
ABV: 5.0%
Today's sampling is a first-time tasting of a Stoudt's Brewing Company beer for me. I picked up a bottle of Stoudt's Scarlet Lady Ale, which is an English style known as ESB or Extra Special Bitter. One of these days I need to look into the style to see if I can figure out where that name came from, but Extra Special Bitters are typically not bitter at all.
This beer poured with a rich bronze color and capped off with a nice head to match. The beer has a sweet and earthy aroma which comes from the Maris Otter and Caramel malts that went into the recipe coupled with the Willamette hopes used to finish for aroma. The beer tastes fine, but it finishes a little on the dry side for me for some reason. It doesn't quite carry the pleasant aftertaste that I get from some other beers in this style, but it's still worth a try if you like the ESB style. This particular bottle may be better served at 50° or so instead of the 37° where my refrigerator is set, but that's the case with a lot of beers. You will never know what you might be missing in a beer until you try it a little warmer than you might normally drink. On a scale of 1-10 in this style, I'd give the Scarlet Lady a 6...
Fuller’s ESB
Brewery: Fuller, Smith & Turner PLC
Where: England
Beer: Fuller's ESB
Style: Extra Special / Strong Bitter
IBU: N/A
ABV: 5.9%
Fuller's ESB is an excellent example of the Extra Special / Strong Bitter style of beer. I still, as mentioned previously, don't really understand the nature of the "Bitter" reference in the style of this excellent beer. Fuller's ESB has an excellent malt character with an ample hop background, but, in my humble opinion this beer's character comes from pale ale and crystal malts that provide a very crisp and nutty flavor with a quick and somewhat dry finish. The light to medium body of this beer definitely suits my afternoon that has reached 97° on the thermometer outside...
On a homebrewer's note, I love these bottles. A short soak in warm water removes the labels quickly and completely!
Left Hand Sawtooth Ale
Brewery: Left Hand Brewing Company
Where: Longmont, Colorado
Beer: Sawtooth Ale
Style: Extra Special / Strong Bitter
IBU: 27
ABV: 4.5%
This is my first sampling of a beer from Left Hand Brewing Company. I have seen them around but haven't had the chance to try one until now. This beer poured with a rich amber color and a full creamy head on top. The aroma of crystal malt was readily apparent as well as a light floral hop accompaniment. This beer is very malty and the hop balance is so nice that the hops are only mildly noticeable in the complexity of the malt mix in this beer. The hops tend to come out of this beer in the aftertaste quite nicely though. According to the website, this beer is made up of Pale 2-row, Crystal, Munich, Wheat, and Black malts. The Crystal and Munich combination in this beer is the backbone of the flavor. This beer would also make a great session beer for anyone who wanted a beer rich on flavor and lower in alcohol. It's a session beer that doesn't really taste like a session beer :)
Rogue XS Imperial Younger’s Special Bitter
Brewery: Rogue Ales
Where: Newport, OR
Beer: Rogue XS Imperial Younger's Special Bitter
Style: Extra Special / Strong Bitter (ESB)
IBU: 52
ABV: 7.4%
If they don't serve Rogue Ales in Heaven, I'm not sure I want to go. Beer after beer, I'm always impressed each time I pop the cap on a Rogue. I can tell that I'm going to just have to make a trip to Oregon one of these days for the sole purpose of visiting Rogue's brew pub and brewery. This is my ninth sampling of a Rogue Ale, and I have two more in the queue that will be coming up soon enough. The only thing that makes me sad is that I'm coming very close to the end of my opportunities to sample the Rogues. There are only three or four more available to me that I haven't tried already. I guess I'll have to see what I can do about that in the future...
Anyway... The Rogue Imperial Younger's Special Bitter is a definite treat. This beer poured with a rich amber color and a beautiful head of foam. The initial aroma was a sweet toasted caramel with very little hop presence in the nose. The first sip allowed the 52 IBUs to kick in with a nice warm HELLO when combined with the overall maltiness of this fantastic beer. This beer, like many of its cousins, is much nicer in the mouth at around 52-55° At 7.4% ABV, it's a kicker by the time you reach the bottom of this 750ml bottle (26 ounces).
And yes... it has been a while since I posted here. Work is getting the best of me lately and I'm totally swamped through the end of December, but hopefully I'll squeeze in a few more beers before the end of the year...
Post Calendar
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Mar | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | ||||
Pages
Recent Comments
- TGTondini on Man Cave Hot Dog Chili
- john Womack on Hop Slam Ale
- Hoegaarden Original White Ale | Beer For Beer Drinkers on Hoegaarden Original White Ale
- John Setzler on Double Bastard Ale
- Tom Devlin on Double Bastard Ale
Categories
Associations
Blogroll
- Asheville Beer Blog
- Beer Examiner
- Beer for Dinner
- BeerPorn
- BeerSmith Home Brewing
- Drunken Polack
- Geistbear Brewing Blog
- PintLog
Stuff
Supplies
- Austin Homebrew Supply
- Brewmasters Warehouse
- Midwest Homebrewing Supplies
- Northern Brewer
- William’s Brewing
