Flying Fish ESB Amber Ale

What news in the news, you ask? Let me cut through the crap and tell you a few important things. First, Playboy has released a hard drive containing every issue for the last 57 years. I haven't seen it but if you need a hint for a Christmas present... It's around $300 and is 250 gigs of, um, art. I put a link at Amazon below if you're interested. Second, Russia and Qatar for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup? Really? WTF? I smell the fine aroma of cash. Finally, at least for this blog segment, there is an international manhunt for the WikiLeaks douchebag. I can't wait to see who has the pleasure of capturing this guy. If it goes down Jack Bauer style, that would be cool!

So I just started drinking Flying Fish ESB Amber Ale brewed by Flying Fish Brewing Company in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Simple label with their flying fish skeleton logo. ESB stands for Extra Special Bitter, or Strong I've heard as well.

Orange and citrus aroma, with a caramel and toasted bread backing. Sweet bread start, not at all what I was expecting. Fruity apple and sweet orange and caramel are the main up front dominant flavors. A hint of spice comes into play around the time a hoppy balance finally arrives. The carbonation provides a little zip before reaching an uneventful finish. Basically, this beer is balanced but on the sweeter side. It is not ESBecially bitter or even partially bitter. It's NOT bitter in the slightest. That doesn't take away from its nice malty fruity flavors, it just means that these guys need to think about renaming the beer. How about just Amber Ale? The 5.5% alcohol was not noticeable. Simple, solid beer. Try it for sure, but try it after physically scratching off the ESB portion of the name from the label! BTW, I just cracked a Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale which is destroying my palate after this "ESB" just softened it up with all its sweet goodness!

Playboy Cover to Cover Hard Drive - Every Issue From 1953 to 2010

FIFA World Cup DVD Collection: 1930 -2006

24: The Complete Series