ESB- Extra Special Bitter

ESB by Redhook Brewery EST. 1981

Beer I am trying tonight is from one of my favorite breweries, the brewery is Redhook Brewery. I have had many of their beers and really have not had a bad beer from them. Redhook was founded in 1981, and they became one of the first craft breweries in the United States. Redhook Breweries can be found in Woodinville, Washington and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I have noticed that Redhook has done some recent collaborations with some noticeable people or companies. The two beers that I know the collaborated on are Audible Ale with Dan Patrick and KCCO Black with Resignation Brewery or The Chive. The beer I am here to look at tonight is ESB which is also known as Extra Special Bitter. ESB has an alcohol by volume or ABV of 5.8% and an IBU of 28. ESB is one of the main beers that helped create Redhook and assisted in their growth into the awesome brewery they are today. In a way this beer is a throwback to when the brewery was first thought of and created. In terms of style of brew this beer is an Amber Ale that was modeled after an English Extra Special Bitter. This particular style focuses on a balance between malt and hops. The English style ESB feature and aggressive addition of hops and a malt forward style brew, which tend to mellow out each other. The ESB style has the word bitter but tends to not be to hoppy and focuses on the balance between a roasted malt and bitter hops. 

Appearance of ESB 

I have had another Amber Ale recently, which was by Ommegang and now I am looking towards ESB. The head or foam of the beer is thick and has a strong retention. Looking at ESB and thinking about this as an Amber Ale the color appearance is in line with the style. ESB has a copper or brownish-red color appearance to this ale. Now thinking about the name makes me worry about this beer. It makes me think that this ale is going to be very bitter and something I might not enjoy. Let's see how the aroma impacts my thoughts about this beer positively or negatively. Aroma at first thought gives me a curious smell that I do not know right off the bat. I think it is a blend between a roasted malt sweetness that makes me think caramel and a citrus/bitter blend. The citrus I cannot quite pinpoint but the addition makes me intrigued and the bitter note comes from the hops added into the ESB. 

 Taste in an Amber Ale is something I sometimes do not look forward to but after having a really good experience with an Amber, I am excited to try this beer to test my palate. I took a sip of this ESB and I noticed the blend between the roasted malt sweetness and the bitter hop notes. I think this is a beer that I can really fully enjoy because  the malt character balanced out the hop bitterness that IPA's typically focus on.  Based off of Redhook's own website this beer is smooth and bold. Gives the drinked an enjoyable malt sweetness, which I would say helps makes this a smooth ale. The hop bitterness in my mind combined with the malty sweetness gives the drinker a bold style of brew, something I could get behind as an ale. There is a toasty note that I pick up on as I begin to drink more of this beer and I cannot quite think what is behind it. I think it might be from the malt presence in the beer.     

In terms of mouthfeel this beer has light carbonation and is blended between the perfect combo of thickness to creaminess. This ESB is a smooth and finishes very nicely on the tastebuds. In my mind this is more of a blend between an India Pale Ale and an Amber Ale. Almost like a session style brew. ESB is not too heavy on ABV and has a nice blend of hop/malt. 

I would recommend this beer to anyone that was curious about the Extra Special Bitter style of brew and wanted to try it. I know after having this beer I might look for more in this style of brew. Again if you are not a fan of bitterness like I tend not to be, you can still enjoy this brew because of the nice balanced in the beer. This throwback to the beginning of Redhook days makes me want to think of how they thought about creating this brew. I can understand how this brew was the flagship beer in the beginning days and I am glad that it is something they still focus on still today. I have to take a trip and visit this brewery in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  

ESB- Extra Special Bitter 

Looking in terms of distribution, I have noticed that Redhook paired with Anheuser-Busch to help them grow into a bigger brewery. To me this was a smart and logical choice for Redhook to make a jump to become known nationally like they are now. Sometimes you require assistance when trying to grow and distribute nationwide. I think one can notice the quality of beers and notice the difference between the Macro-Brews and the Micro-Brews. To me in my mind I think that Redhook was really smart in doing this because the had grown to a point where they needed to pair with Anheuser-Busch so they could grow and develop themselves into what they are today as a brewery. This partnership allows them to reach markets that they otherwise might not have been able to reach, trying to distribute their beer on their own. Redhook developed and cultivated their market in Washington and New Hampshire, but to take it to the next level they needed a big leap  and that leap was with the bigger brewer like Anheuser-Busch. Still to this day they have a partnership which I have noticed when I was a bartender in a restaurant because the rep of Anheuser-Busch was the one I always wanted to talk to in order to bring in KCCO Black and other Redhook beers. Price wise Redhook beers for a six pack are going to run you around eight to nine dollars for one. In terms of price per six pack that is reasonable and for the quality of beer it is a steal in my opinion.  

Below are Redhook's Website and Twitter: 

Redhook Website 

Redhook Twitter