I got the Ross Island- Fuggles ESB because I’d heard good things about Ross Island brewing. And I like ESBs.
The nose has a faint caramel roast quality. Hops are really not present in the nose-but it’s an ESB so this is about what I expect.
Now, the initial sip seems fine; malted, crisper finish but not too crisp, just a little bit of that sweet quality that malt forward ales tend to have.
But the second sip gives me cinnamon. Not much of it, mind you but cinnamon is not the kind of flavor one can dismiss easily.
Speaking of; the Outback is on fire. So there’s that.
About halfway through the glass, I start getting hints of cinnamon in the nose. I…just don’t know what to do here. Partly because I don’t hate this, but also because I don’t like cinnamon that much. Also because; what the hell is cinnamon doing in an ESB?
Remarkably, though I don’t hate this beer.
It’s just hard to think about when so much is in crisis. After (narrowly, maybe) avoiding war with a country we had no business being at war with, the attention swivels to (another) country on fire and yet an eye must be grown on the back of the head to keep it on the boil over in America.
It’s hard work, being a person, at least if you want to do right. And one deserves rest if you do that work, which usually means having a beer but it is hard to have a beer when there is SO much to do… And what I should do now is get my second glass of ESB.
I mention to the bartender that I pick up cinnamon and she replies, “I’ve heard nutmeg from people!” and now I don’t know if I’m super off the mark of if there really is some form of spice happening. So before glass two, I get a glass of water.
That second glass still has something is weird about it, though. If it isn’t cinnamon, there is certainly an element on the finish that tastes out of place. If it was another hop type, I’d attribute it to the hops but Fuggles is usually more innocuous. Yet it isn’t undrinkable. I’ve had two glasses of it, and it’s been fascinating.
I just don’t think I’d want a third.
Today’s second pint goes to the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal.
But here’s a list of places you might consider donating to given Australia’s current crisis.
A pint for Dionysus 