Great Divide HotShot ESB

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Cap doffs loudly and the beer makes a lot of noise coming out of the bottle. Huge, towering head shoots up the glass under a smooth pour. Heavy caramel notes in the aroma, along with some apple accents. Taste is clean, balanced. Smooth, easy-drinking beer.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Orange golden colour, huge foamy head. Lovely sweet caramel and honeyish hoppy aroma. Flavour is dry fruits, hops. That’s about it. Slightly light overall.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

355 ml bottle, at The Rover, Göteborg. Amber colour, large to moderate creamy head. Hoppy sweetish aroma, strong notes of blackcurrants / blackcurrant leaves. Flavour is sweetish and reasonably malty, some blackcurrant notes, but far too little bitterness for an ESB.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 6

I've never had bad luck with the Great Divide stuff. But, on the other hand, I do have to say that this is probably my least favorite of the bunch that I've tried thus far.

What's the problem? It's tasty enough, don't get me wrong. But the excessive fizziness and carbonation tends to drag my scores down for this beer. It left me rather full and bloated, to be honest.

Otherwise, I liked this beer well enough. Some interesting caramel-ish aspects to the malt bill, that surprisingly enough don't clash with the hop bill. Some rough & angular notes with the hoppiness of this beer, that, while a little out-of-character, isn't entirely unwelcome.

But it's the spriziness of this beer, and how it throws the mouthfeel out of whack, that keeps me from really digging this beer. Put this bad boy into a firkin, let it carbonate naturally, maybe toss in a plug of dry hops, and pour this off a hand-pump? I'm already lined up at the bar, indeed.

But bottled? A little disappointing. A fine enough beer, but handicapped by an excessive amount of C02.

Music: Dragonlord's "Inhuman Rampage"
//TB

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Bottle: Poured a reddish/light brown color ale with a small slightly off-white foamy head with average retention. Aroma is slightly bitter with some semi-caramel malt. Taste is a well balance mix between some caramel malt with a dry and semi-bitter finish. Body is about average with great carbonation. Overall, probably more hops then in a regular ESB but well made nonetheless and great session beer overall.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Clear pale amber colour. Low creamy head. Clean aroma of apricot, oranges, caramel and hops. Hopbitter flavour with sweet undertones of oranges and lemon. Floral and grassy bitter finish.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Poured a light golden color small head, which didn't lace well. Aroma was of citrus hops caramel. Flavor was much the same but thin all the way around. not great

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Another strong offering from Great Divide. Handsome amber color, very pleasant aroma, nice little hops bite without being overdone. This would be a great session beer. I'm going back for more!

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Definately a tasty beer, but not really what I would classify as an ESB. Overall, it could have been a little more hoppy, I guess you could say I would be happier if it was hoppier. I bought this for myself and the Great Divide Denver pale ale for a friend, and we both thought the pale ale was hoppier but not as clean and smooth as the ESB. I enjoyed it, but I won't give it high marks.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 7

I haven't been able to distinguish this from a standard American Pale Ale. Aroma was of citrus hops, some caramel. Flavor was light caramel and toffee malts (the latter the most prominent ESB part of the experience), even a touch of a dry honey finish with citrus and grapefruit hops present. The mouthfeel was slightly acidic and light (but refreshing). Poured a clear amber, light copper color with a thin small head that yielded weak lacing.