Full Sail ESB

A nice big billowing head leaves some lace, and the beer is a brilliantly clear medium amber that you can read a book through. The malt aroma has several layers -- from slightly grainy bread crusts and freshly baked bread to some caramel notes and a smidge of golden raisins. The malt flavor adds to all of the aroma characteristics with some nutty tones and a little bit of peanut-brittle toffee.

The hop aroma and flavor bring out floral and earthy English notes with a background piney aroma and a low grassy (dry-hopped?) flavor, with a bit of herbal hoppiness too. Bittering is fairly high, but almost balanced by the complexity of the malt character. Some slight pomme fruitiness like a ripe pear appears mid-palate.

A tongue-tingling fairly high initial carbonation fades quickly to the traditional moderate carbonation. The finish is clean with moderate alcohol warmth. This is an elegant beer to pair with English pasties (the food, not the tassel!) smothered in spicy tomato sauce.