(aka, “the Pot Beer”)(my “aka,” not theirs)
Here’s the other seasonal ale I had at River City. I figured I’d get this up now while it has a chance of still being on tap. After this, I’ll move on to their flagships.
As with the Rowdy Red, I’m missing a lot of the basic information here because there wasn’t much to be seen at the brewery, and their website doesn’t have any worthwhile information. Dear River City and any other brewery with no beer info on their websites, something that would be really helpful for the 2 or so of you who don’t already do this would be to keep your beer lists easily accessible and updated, so that your patrons can learn more about your product if they’d like to. It’s not hard and there really aren’t any downsides. Quit being lazy!
Basic Info:
Name: ESB
Origin: River City Brewing Co., Wichita, KS
Style: ESB, but I think stronger than the usual ESB
ABV: no idea
IBU: not listed that I could see
I drank this: on tap at the Brewery
This beer was… interesting.
It had no head and came out as a light amber ale with mid-range carbonation (I could see the bubbles through the beer, but they were small). Both malts and hops were present in the nose, but the predominant scent was distinctly apple, to the point where I almost wondered if they’d poured me a cider by mistake.
Drinking it, there was an initial painfully sharp bit of hops (like, my tongue hurt instantly)(like OUCH), followed by light, caramelly malts, and a back hint of apple. It had a slightly thick mouthfeel, like maybe it had spent a bit of time in a cask, but I don’t think it did because casks have the effect of mellowing the hops so that I’m not mentally jumping around as though the hops had stubbed my toe tongue. So I’m not sure here. The server didn’t have a clue. (This is when I learned to stop asking her questions.)
So we’re at a couple of weird things already. Number one, this is WAY too hoppy to qualify as an ESB. Based on the hop profile, this is a solid American Pale Ale. Number two, it smells STRONGLY of apples. Number three is the aftertaste.
The aftertaste, people, is pot. Like marijuana. Really. I don’t know that I’d say the aftertaste tastes the way pot tastes, but it certainly tastes the way pot smells. I wish I had a picture of my face the moment I figured out what I was tasting – I’m sure it was expressive. I’d blame it on the queso we were eating, but the queso was finished before the beer was and the aftertaste was still hanging out.
So, to sum up: caramel apple pot beer. YUMMY Um. Like I said, interesting.
