Today's beer is an ESB. ESB is an English style of beer that stands for extra special bitter. And contrary to the name, is not that bitter at all. Most ESBs are much more malt forward rather than bitter hoppiness. This ESB is from Stoudts, a brewery that I have never tried before. But I dig ESBs and I like the label, so I picked it up. To the beer!
Scarlet Lady earns its name. It pours a crystal clear reddish amber. Topped off by two fingers of robust off white head. Very inviting.
The aromas here hint at the malt forward nature of the beer. Big biscuity, slightly caramely malt backed by floral hop notes.
Scarlet Lady is a pretty light bodied beer. Light caramel and toffee flavors set the stage. That maltiness leads the way into a crisp earthy hop characteristic. Everything is underlined by a very prickly level of carbonation. It's almost too much. It sort of scrubs the palate clean and eradicates all of those caramel and hop flavors. All of that carbonation means that this beer finishes very clean.
As the carbonation begins to bubble off the beer takes on a bit more creaminess and the caramel flavors become more prominent.
This isn't a bad beer, but it isn't a particularly good one either. It's just sort of unremarkable. All of the carbonation really cancels out the few interesting flavors that it has. Perhaps this beer would be better served on tap or, better yet, cask. But as it is, I can't really give this beer much of a recommendation.
HD
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