Middle Ages Beast Bitter

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

Amber colored pour with a little white head. Malty sweet aroma but with a noticeable fruity, floral hop balance. Taste starts malty and caramelly but finishes slightly bitter. OK.

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

This beer is a beast, but no, its not Milwaukee's Best, commonly know as THE BEAST among college co-eds. This special beer is an ESB(Extra Special Bitter) by style, and comes from the Middle Ages Brewing Company, of Syracuse, NY. Middle Ages is know as a Ringwood brewery, and specializes in British beer styles. They use a very unique strain of yeast called ringwood, that oringinated in England, and use a Peter Austin designed brewing system. Ringwood is a unique strain in that when fermenting, it produces a by product called diacetal. Diacetal gives the beer an earthy aroma and "butter" like flavors. Some beer drinkers can not detect this, some can and find it off putting. Others, myself included, enjoy hints of diacetal in British ales, where proper amounts of it, are appropriate. Middle Ages does a wonderful job with this unique strain, all the beers that I have sampled from this brewery have been delicious. I'll be visiting the brewery in Syracuse next month, and will be sure to stock up on Beat Bitter and all other Middle Ages offerings. Beast Bitter pours to a deep copper color, with a firm white head, and a good bit of carbonation. The nose on this beer is very fragrant. Vibrant hop aromas pair with that distinctive "earthy" ringwood yeast aroma. The palate is firm, good pale and caramel malt notes waltz on the tongue. There is also a slight touch of butter scotch flavor and "buttery" mouth feel, again a result from the ringwood yeast strain. This beer finishes malty at first, a touch earthy, mushroom like, but then ends with a long, dry, bitter hop bite. This is a really well done ESB, from a really great micro brewery. I would pair this with red meats such as beef, lamb, or even venison.

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

True medium amber topped by a fairly thick, sandy head with a yellowish cast. Hops top the aroma and are very fresh. Grassy and lemony with the lemons verging on cleaning fluids, but not yet offensive. The flavor is loads of caramel and a bit of apple (especially the peels). This is an excellent bitter, but I think the carbonation needs to be toned down a bit.

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

I really liked the looks of this one....very dark amber color with a very thick, long lasting head. The aroma was hoppy with just a hint of a fruity smell. The taste was enjoyable enough. There was a slight aftertaste, but nothing distasteful. Give it a try!

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

This is a very nice bitter. Orange/gold colored, mildly hoppy. Very nice to drink. I had it w/ pasta carbonara and it paired very well.

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

The aroma is hoppy like with hints of fruit, like grapefruit namely, with hints of some spice and dried-floral characteristics. The appearance is a nice rusty bronze with some tones of light amber with an off-white head that is luscious and bubbly with good lacing that sticks to the glass well. The mouthfeel is meduium-bodied and has great hoppy complexity with slight hints of malt balancing, but not much, with a nice and clean, wet pallet and an aftertaste that is dry-like. The flavor is hoppy with some malt and dried flowers with an aftertaste that turns from slightly sweet to bitter and dry to some extent and is very refreshing and crisp. Overall, this is a very drinkable bitter that is complex to some extent and is surprisingly refreshing with the bitter not too overpowering. Bottomline, this is a beer that is easy to drink and very solid with good quality.

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

Much like other beers from this brewery

Aroma: 4 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

Orange gold color with little head. Sweet hoppy aroma. the flavor is sweet to start but quickly becomes hoppya nd dry through the finish.