Try?
Some people say
that familiarity breeds contempt, and I’ve seen that happen with some people
I know. Not me though. While I love seeking out and discovering new brews
and dishes, I’m always happy to enjoy the tried-and-true as well, something
I’m familiar with and have always enjoyed. So it was for me when I walked
into a supermarket here in Rome, Georgia and saw an old acquaintance from my
old home in New England.
The old friend I ran into was a six-pack of Redhook ESB. Though Redhook didn’t originate in New England, I consider the beer to be as Yankee as clam chowdah and Maine lobstuh. After all, the company built a brand-spanking new brewery in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and brews beer there for distribution on the East Coast.
Redhook is twenty five percent owned by Anheuser Busch, and though some beer enthusiasts aren’t entirely happy with the world’s biggest brewer getting its paws on a much, much smaller craft brewer, I haven’t seen any negative effects on the beer. Indeed, the alliance between Redhook and AB has allowed the former to become a national brand, and it made it available in good condition here in Georgia over 1000 miles away from the brewery in New Hampshire. My six-pack was bottled in late August, making the beer only a few months old.
Redhook does not pasteurize their beers but instead micro-filters them. This removes biological organisms that could affect the flavor of the beer and cause it to spoil. Like pasteurization, however, filtering also changes the character of a beer to a degree, and is one of the reasons why bottled beer can taste differently from kegged beer, which is not usually pasteurized or filtered on the assumption that it will be kept refrigerated and sold more quickly and hence will not spoil.
The Redhook Ale Brewery was originally established all the way back in 1981 and sold its first brew on August 11th, 1982. The company was thus one of America’s first microbrewers and a pioneer in the modern American craft brew movement. Redhook specializes in ales, both English style and variations on traditional German wheat beers.
Extra Special Bitter is a style that fits in somewhere in between a pale ale
(commonly known on draft as bitter in England) and an India Pale Ale. It is
a style that accentuates both malt and hops. Redhook’s version is an
excellent one. Two-row Klages and caramel malt are used along with Tettnang
and Willamette hops. The beer has 29 IBUs and about 5.6% alcohol by volume.
It was first offered in 1987.
Redhook ESB pours to a deep orange color with a thick creamy head formation and a grassy hop nose. The palate is rich and chewy and very caramelly with a thick mouthfeel and an herbal, grassy-minty hop finish with a good balancing bitterness. This is a great ESB, lots of malt, lots of hops, and lots of flavor. Delicious with red meats, I enjoyed a pint this evening with a thick seasoned T-bone steak, creamy Parmesan risotto and a broccoli and cauliflower medley. A wonderfully drinkable and delicious ale that has appeal to a wide array of beer drinkers.
The old friend I ran into was a six-pack of Redhook ESB. Though Redhook didn’t originate in New England, I consider the beer to be as Yankee as clam chowdah and Maine lobstuh. After all, the company built a brand-spanking new brewery in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and brews beer there for distribution on the East Coast.
Redhook is twenty five percent owned by Anheuser Busch, and though some beer enthusiasts aren’t entirely happy with the world’s biggest brewer getting its paws on a much, much smaller craft brewer, I haven’t seen any negative effects on the beer. Indeed, the alliance between Redhook and AB has allowed the former to become a national brand, and it made it available in good condition here in Georgia over 1000 miles away from the brewery in New Hampshire. My six-pack was bottled in late August, making the beer only a few months old.
Redhook does not pasteurize their beers but instead micro-filters them. This removes biological organisms that could affect the flavor of the beer and cause it to spoil. Like pasteurization, however, filtering also changes the character of a beer to a degree, and is one of the reasons why bottled beer can taste differently from kegged beer, which is not usually pasteurized or filtered on the assumption that it will be kept refrigerated and sold more quickly and hence will not spoil.
The Redhook Ale Brewery was originally established all the way back in 1981 and sold its first brew on August 11th, 1982. The company was thus one of America’s first microbrewers and a pioneer in the modern American craft brew movement. Redhook specializes in ales, both English style and variations on traditional German wheat beers.
Extra Special Bitter is a style that fits in somewhere in between a pale ale
(commonly known on draft as bitter in England) and an India Pale Ale. It is
a style that accentuates both malt and hops. Redhook’s version is an
excellent one. Two-row Klages and caramel malt are used along with Tettnang
and Willamette hops. The beer has 29 IBUs and about 5.6% alcohol by volume.
It was first offered in 1987. Redhook ESB pours to a deep orange color with a thick creamy head formation and a grassy hop nose. The palate is rich and chewy and very caramelly with a thick mouthfeel and an herbal, grassy-minty hop finish with a good balancing bitterness. This is a great ESB, lots of malt, lots of hops, and lots of flavor. Delicious with red meats, I enjoyed a pint this evening with a thick seasoned T-bone steak, creamy Parmesan risotto and a broccoli and cauliflower medley. A wonderfully drinkable and delicious ale that has appeal to a wide array of beer drinkers.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
