What a great weekend here in Seattle. Beautiful weather coupled with great beer makes this cool August day feel more like the fall than summer, but you will read no complaints from me. We hiked to Snow Lake about an hour into the Cascade Mountains yesterday, following this 6-mile breathtaking hike we hit the Columbia City Ale House with some friends. I decided to deviate from my ordinary search for bigger, hoppier, more extreme which paid off! Thankfully, I was surprised to find some outstanding Extra Special Bitters.
I have found that it is on rare occasion you can compare a beer style to something as authentic and true as a classic, in this case Fuller's ESB. Fortunately, I had that privilege last night with fresh kegs of both Fuller's ESB and Maritime's ESB, a local Seattle brewery. This comparison is two-fold, local vs. import and English classic vs. American interpretation.
I began with the Maritime. I found this to be a solid ESB, enjoyable and refreshing. Exhibiting a deep amber hue with practically transparent clarity. The aroma was a bit more hop assertive than I had expected but pleasant nonetheless. On first taste the dryness comes out with a substantial bitterness throughout melding the subtle toffee and caramel notes. Bitterness may have masked the complexities of malt so accustomed to the style, possibly served a few degrees to cold as well. Finish is clean and crisp. A very nice session beer although it had me yearning for the real thing to see how it really stacked up…
Second Pint was the Fuller's ESB and it lived up to my memories. The wonderful complexity of a beer you could easily quaff all night in not easily forgotten. In overall impression this classic edged past Maritime's already good example. It came out a shade darker than Amber, great clarity, and modest carbonation (classic to the style). The aroma was fantastic, notes of malt sweetness with a hop aroma that was gone before you could put your finger on it. Taste is full but not heavy, delicate flavors from the English hops surround the tongue as the malt complexities become more apparent. The taste began with the toffee, caramel maltiness so typical of the style while finishing slightly sweet from a mellow honey note that was delicate yet extraordinary. Finishes a bit fuller than Maritime, in combination with a slightly less carbonation left the beer feeling richer and more complex. This is still a classic among English beers. As Sierra Nevada is to Pale Ale, we can see Fuller's is to ESB.
If only they had both on Cask, we could all look forward to that!
