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For tonight’s beer review, I bring you Old Thumper Extra Special Ale from Shipyard Brewing Co., Portland, ME via Ringwood Brewery of Hampshire, England.:

Okay, while the bottle says “Extra Special Ale”, I believe it should be in the “Extra Special Bitter” class. It is a native British beer, but the recipe is being brewed by Shipyard Brewing Co. in Portland, Maine for US consumption. I expected this one to have some different flavors from the beers I’ve been reviewing so far, especially on the hops front. How did it do?

The nose is light and is of mostly dry malt scents with a bit of fruity esters and some spiciness.

The beer pours a crystal clear light honey colored amber with a nice white heat atop.

The flavors really follow the scents. The malts are biscuit-dominated with a little breadiness in there. The hops are not overpowering, but kick in late with spice and some bitterness to finish, giving the beer a very nice balance between the hops and malts. It is clearly a different hops than I’ve tasted in the American Ambers, which are the closest thing to this ESB.

The beer has a nice medium mouthfeel with fairly low carbonation. It is smooth and easy to drink.

Overall, this was an interesting change of pace, especially since my first all-grain homebrew is an ESB and I’ll be bottling it this weekend. I don’t have a ton of exposure to British beers, so I wanted to get a feel for them before breaking into my own. If mine tastes like this one, I’ll be a happy camper.

The hops take a little getting used to for this West Coast grapefruit hops lover, but once I settled in, I quite enjoyed the Old Thumper.

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