2° Below - New Belgium, Fort Collins

Extra Special Bitter is a style of beer that I don't particularly care for. In most cases, it seems like the ESB label is a license for brewers to pack a ton of bitter hops into a darker beer without bothering with any of the things that make an IPA tolerable. There's usually no citrusy sweet crispness, just dry hops and hearty grains. The ESBs that I do like tend to be those that back a little mildly toasted malt into the mix. Anything you can do to tone down the hops is greatly appreciated. I'm torn on where exactly New Belgium's 2° Below falls...

The flavor of the 2° Below is more hoppy than I was expecting. Sure, ESBs are supposed to be hoppy - that's where the bitterness comes from, but this beer was hopped within an inch of tasting like a Pale Ale. There isn't much of that hearty grain and bready flavor in this beer to convince me this wasn't a defective batch of Hoptober. There is only the faintest hint of caramel malt in this beer, it gives you a fleeting sense that the 2° Below may be a little Christmasy after all. But it really is too little, too late...

This beer finishes with a strangely creamy, almost milky texture that washes the bitterness from your palate as you're left wondering what it was exactly that you just drank. If you're a fan of the ESB style I'd suggest trying this beer, maybe you'd be able to tell me what is going on here...