Tennessee Brew Works Extra Easy ESB

The extra special bitter is weird kind of beer. I've only had two other beers that claim to be ESB's and they were both good, but that's a pretty small sampling considering by breadth of experience over the many years of this blog. But, this is an ESB that even claims to be "easy" to drink. Let's find out if the right.

This mostly murky beer has a definite red hue to the otherwise honey color. The head is a light tan, and it is aggressive as heck. It doesn't seem to leave a bunch of lacing, but it asserts a large number of bubbles right out of the bottle to the point that I needed to let this settle twice in order to get this picture. The aroma is rich and bitter like a wine that is at the verge of being off.

First sip is like a barley wine, but it's sweeter and bitter, and (if possible) has a lot more grains. The grains are mixed with coriander and light spices while backed by some solid earth. It's an impressive beverage to sip, but a sip is daunting. What about a swig?

Tip-in is carbonation bite with bread and grains highlighted by the spices. The middle erupts with earth, grains, some of that coriander, and the spices are a little heavier. The finish is where the spices start jumping, and the bitterness merges with a bit of sweetness to bring a kind of strong-brown-ale flavor that is absolutely great.

Bottom Line: It's very good, and it's extra special for its drinkability.

3.75/5