Scarlet Lady

Brewer: Stoudts

Style: ESB

Tasting notes: (1006) Roasty malts with a sour tinniness at end. May rate 2 glasses.

Rating: 3 glasses

Four recent beers: Clipper City Loose Cannon, SNPA, SN ESB, and Ommegang Rare Vos

Beer: Heavy Seas Loose Cannon
Brewer: Clipper City
Style: Double IPA
Tasting notes: A malty brew balanced with a nice dose of floral and orange hops. Previous review.
Rating: Recommended without reservation
Beer: Pale Ale
Brewer: Sierra Nevada
Style: Pale Ale
Tasting notes: (7) Some bottles from a 6-pack purchased in Mathews. Good beer. Easy to drink with enough flavor to be interesting and sippable. (6) My appreciation of the beer continues to grow. Simpler than downgrading several 4's and 3's. (5) Sweet caramel malt up front nicely balanced w/ hop bit at end. (4) "Ummm, beer!" The perfect beer when you want a "beer"? (3) 1st of a 12-pack. Good beer. Easy to drink with enough flavor to be interesting and sippable. Nice balance of sweet and bitter. (2) A draft and a bottle @ 2 different restaurants. The draft was quite tasty. A solid choice. (1) A good beer with a relatively wide distribution in restaurants.
Rating: Recommended with qualifications

Beer: Rare Vos
Brewer: Ommegang
Style: Belgian Dark Ale
Tasting notes: The notes on the label are spot on: mellow, fruity, and elusively spicy. Light fruits up front with a pineapple/ginger tanginess that lingers on the tongue. Went well with pork tenderloin w/ chutneyand pineapple and apples w/ fontina cheese.
Rating: Recommended without reservation

Beer: ESB
Brewer: Sierra Nevada
Style: Extra Special Bitters/Beer
Tasting notes: (3) Easy drinking and flavorful w/ a nice bitters finish. (2) Noticed a roasty malt. (1) Great w/ food; great in gulps. Previous review.
Rating: Recommended without reservation.

Sierra Nevada Night

Beer: ESB

Brewer: Sierra Nevada

Style: ESB

Tasting notes: (2) Very nice. Easy drinking and flavorful w/ a nice bitters finish. (1) Very English for Sierra Nevada. Understated, tasty and too quaffable. Sweet malt followed by dry bitters. Went great w/ burger topped w/ maple smoked bacon. Quaffability increased the rating.

Comments: I liked the 1st bottle I had that I looked for the beer in Kroger. I bought a case for $14.49 + tax. A great value @ $1.25/bottle. Sierra Nevada releases ESB once a year in the early spring. I have now had two super-super fresh bottles before February.

Rating: Recommended without resesrvation

Beer Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale, 2009

Brewer: Sierra Nevada

Style American Barleywine

Tasting notes: Loads of hops and a strong bitter hop bite at end. Delicious and smoother than I remember. Have my tastes changed or is the year's version a little tamer?

Comments: Sierra Nevada releases Bigfoot once a year in the winter. This bottle is super fresh.

Date on which reviewers at Beeradvocate.com rated it as one of the top 100 beers on the planet: 29 Decemember 2005. (Not 10 March 2007 or 30 January 2009.)

Recommendation: Top 10ish. Bigfoot joins the Top-10ish club. Previous years are highly recommended.

Sierra Nevada ESB (Early Spring Beer)

Beer: ESB (Early Spring Beer)

Brewer: Sierra Nevada

Style ESB

Tasting notes: This beer has an understated tastiness that is very English for Sierra Nevada. The flavor starts w/ a little sweet malt and ends w/ dry bitters. The beer went great w/ burger topped w/ maple smoked bacon. It goes beyond quaffable into gulpable. Its drinkability and tastiness for such a "small" beer increased its rating slightly. It would be a wonderful session beer. Perhaps freshness matters - I am drinking a 2009 Early Spring Beer in January.

Comments: Sierra Nevada uses ESB cleverly. ESB usually means Extra Strong Bitter or Extra Special Bitter. The brewery takes the same initials to refer to their early spring beer. Bitter is a classic brew in English pubs - a bit more hops and bite than mild ales. ESB is a little more of what makes Bitter bitter.

Rating: Recommended without reservation