Breckenridge 471 Small Batch Extra ESB
Extra, extra? You better believe it. We like to say it’s double extra special. The balance of malt and hops makes it truly one-of-a-kind. Warming malt notes at the onset with a hop kick in the back and opens up to a nice dry finish. Our small batch ESB is a big, strong traditional ale with characteristics that break tradition and a complexity that constantly surprises.
3.3
226 reviews
Littleton, United States
Community reviews
12oz bottle poured into glass. Pours a dark brown color with a big foamy head. Has a nice spice character that I really enjoyed. Not too malty or bitter really, just a good balanced ESB.
Bottle. Brownish pour with some red highlights and almost no head. Chocolate malt up front, then dusty/earthy malts, then a little bitterness. Probably solid for the style, just not really my style.
12 oz bottle pours deep amber with a tan head. Aroma is sweet, malty, nutty and a hint of chocolate. Taste is sweet malts and spice.
Bottle. Dark caramel color, light head, clear. Does start with a malty nose and finishes with a hop kick and finish. Palate is a little thick for style -- strongness.
12oz bottle. The aroma is chocolate malt with a little bitter as well. The appearance is a dark brown. The taste starts out of a dry chocolate malt then rolls into a dark esb bitter then finishes a mix of the dark and bitter flavors. The palate is pretty bitter with a chocolate twist. Overall, a pretty good beer. I would buy some more if I could find it.
Bottle. Ruby-brown with a tall, foamy tan head. Aroma is malty and semi-sweet with caramel, chocolate covered nuts, earthy hops and toffee. Taste is sweet malt, toffee, nuttiness, caramel notes, earthy hops and hints of dark fruit. Body is medium and chewy with a moderate, creamy carbonation. Slightly sticky as well. Ends with more caramel, strong toffee, toasted malt, chocolate covered nuts and earthy hops.
12 ounce bottle. Hazy orange brown color topped by a small bubbly, beige head. Nutty toasted malt aroma hints at soy sauce and salted caramel. Bittersweet roasted malt flavor upfront. Notes of burnt sugar, roasted almonds, dark currants and earthy hops. Finish is dry with peppery, spicy hops that fade nicely. Full-bodied and flavorful, the flavor develops complexity as the brew warms.
Caramel, raisin and nut aromas. Nuts, raisin, and sweet earth flavors. Overall a very good ESB.
12oz bottle. Clear dark red color. Slightly brown. Thin off-white / khaki head. Good lace. Bigger body. Smooth lighter carbonation. Finish more on the dry side. Bitter, but also sweet. Bittersweet. Alcohol doesn’t stick out. Well-blended with the flavor. Earthy, herbal hops. Some peppery, toasty malts. Good chocolate note. A solid ESB.
Bottle to pint. Looks solid; a semi-opaque dark amberish-brown with thin off-white lacing. Smells of hops and semi-sweet malt. Tastes like it smells with an average mouthfeel. Okay.
Location: 12 oz bottle from Buy Rite, 1/13/13
Aroma: The nose has some light malts, caramel, a little smoke, nutty notes, and a bit of earth
Appearance: Pours a mahogany color with a small beige head and some pretty heavy lace streaks
Flavor: The taste is malty and a little smokey, it is somewhat sweet, with a nice, earthy, bitter finish
Palate: The body is medium, has a smooth feel, soft carbonation, and a lengthy, slightly dry finish
Overall Impression:
I thought this was a pretty solid beer. With it’s malty flavors and mild smoke, it works pretty well. If the earthy hops had been more prevalent I probably would have liked this beer even more, but as is, I enjoyed it.
Drink and wait for the bitter...awesome. Super dark brown pour from 12oz bottle, even on the front bitter malt in the end.
coppery with small head. was hoping for a tasty ESB. this isn’t it. malty with some caramel. not terrible, but this isn’t what the bottle claims.
Bottle. Light nutty caramel malt, prune, and molasses aroma. Brown with a small tan head, suspended sediment, decent lacing. Caramel malt, toast, and raisin flavor with a light hops bitterness. Medium body with a dry tannic mouth feel. I agree with a previous rater who compared this to a lower alcohol barleywine.
Little to no aroma. Spicey malty taste with a chocolatey bitter artertaste. Certainly not extra bitter.
Poured from a refrigerated 12 ounce bottle into a snifter. Appearance is a dark ruby with a one-finger width head of a light khaki color. Decent retention. Aroma is caramel sweetness with a malty fruity note to it similar to that of a gold-and-delicious apple. Taste is just mildly bitter with a stronger emphasis on a malt forward sweetness than that of a hop bitterness. This beer reminds me a great deal of a lower alcohol content barleywine than anything resembling an ESB. Who am I to classify this, though.
Refrigerated bottle poured into a shaker pours dark amber. Some lacing, thick/medium body, smooth/sticky texture, and light hop aroma. Taste is grainy malt, hint of alcohol, and bitter herbal hop finish. OK.
Bottle. Pours an amber body with an off white head. Malty body, caramel and light fruit tones. Bitter toasted malts hints of bitter hop resins and light grapefruit. Medium warmth with a bittersweet finish. Decent.
Just to clarify this batch doesn’t say 471 but the Extra ESB is the same as 471 Extra ESB.
The beer pours a clear medium copper with about a finger of light tan head that has decent retention. The lacing is light.
The aroma is light mostly some bitter hops with a tiny bit of skunky, not your normal ESB.
The taste is not great to me its like a bad IPA. The hops are all over the place very strong but nothing else to reward you. Not a normal bitter.
The feel is watery and not very drinkable.
Overall, I wouldn’t qualify as an ESB and I wouldn’t drink it eiter. Not a great effort overall.
On tap at Breckenridge Brewery & BBQ. Clearish deep burnt orange/deep amber. Oddly, it smells like a freshly cleaned sink. Somewhat malty aroma, semisweet and candy-like. Tass has a maole syrup taste and texture. Thick and full bodied. Sweet toffee start with subtle bitterness at the end. Some sweet fruity hop tones. Overall a pretty sweet ESB, but not cloying, just right. Nice subtle alcohol burn to remind you it’s a big beer.
I liked this beer. A good easy drinking beer. I could definately have a couple of these in one sitting. Smooth, drinkable, tasty. Good brew.
Bottle.
A - Nice burnt amber color with a good sized, creamy, thick, full, off-white head. Really nice retention and a nice creamy layer of lace.
S - Has a nice toasted caramel and bready/biscuity aroma with a nice Scottish ale spice/herbal characteristic as well. Has a pretty strong metallic aroma and a hint citrus/berry too.
T - Starts out with the nice toasted caramel malt. Mid sip there is more herbal hops and Scottish spice along with some biscuity flavors. The finish is a little harsh with a little too much hoppy bitterness with a grassy and spicy hop flavor. Some metallic undertones on the finish as well.
M - Medium body with average carbonation. Fairly creamy.
D - It would be quite easy to drink if the finish were so harsh/sharp. Just a little too much hop and bitterness for the style. Metallic flavors also detract a bit.
Notes: Decent Scottish ale and a bit better than I expected. It’s good, but the finish is a little too much with the hops. There is a nice biscuity/herbal/spice flavor that is tasty and enjoyable, but it just doesn’t quite reach that upper echelon. Worth a go (especially when on sale like I got it) but it’s not going to become a staple in my fridge.
amber pour with a medium tight head.
aroma is toasty caramel maltiness. light herbal hoppiness.
flavour is caramel and oranges, toast, hint of alc in the finish.
12oz bottle. Small beige head atop clear copper body. Aroma is moderately sweet, orange, caramel/toast, some earthy. Taste is moderately sweet, caramel, orange/earthy, some toast, grapefruit, alcohol warming, light prune. Sticky medium-full body. With the alcohol evident, I’d consider this an ESA rather than an ESB -- I certainly like it better from that perspective.
Clear burnt orange with a small, lasting head. Aroma is toffee with slight prickly herb-spice. Flavor is initially big toffee-apple; turns to a delicate, bitter herb and light fruit finish. Slight wood and smoke on the finish at times, too. Pretty decent for a canned beer, and seems true to the style. Not a bad ESB
Sampled from a 22 oz brown bottle this beer poured a dark orange-brown color with an enormous tan head that lingered and produced good lacing. The aroma was malty, sweet and nutty with light notes of cherry, apple and lemon. The flavor was caramel, nut and fruity hops with a bitter presence and moderate notes of caramel and ripe fruits. Medium finish and medium body. Solid.
To be blunt, this isn’t an ESB so much as it is a huge mess. I guess it is vaguely along the lines of something like Arrogant Bastard, which is to say it is something of barleywine-like balance at less than barleywine strength, but the hops and overall character are different. The pour is murky brown. The head lasts only a brief while and is off white and made of mixed bubbles. Nose here has a bit of sweet grapefruit citrus character but not fresh and vibrant like an IPA more reserved and thick w/ molasses like sweetness. Flavor too is sort of an American hop character w/ a thick, sweet malt character. Sticky on the palate, which works OK w/ the flavors but kind of cuts drinkability and enjoyment. If Breckenridge hit their mark w/ this one, they were shooting at the wrong thing. This has neither the drinkability of a good bitter nor does it offer anything to make the extra percentage points of alcohol justified. As you drink more, it goes from bad to nearly undrinkable.
Poured from bottle, very dark murky amber/brown. Off-white head that doesn’t last, some lacing. Roasted malt notes, nuts, bready, citrusey; pleasant smell. Taste is just off, obviously oxidized, no idea how old this bottle is. I was hoping for more as the Small Batch IPA is a great beer. Bitterness is more prevelant than ESB typical, but this is an Extra ESB so that could be expected. Very cardboard taste & watery mouthfeel. Hard to judge the beer with these age defects.
Smells of roasted nuts and sugar cane. Pours a mahogany with a transient white, bubbly head. A medium body with some syrupy texture. Starts with roasted malt, brown sugar and raisin, moving to a dark chocolate finish.
Poured a dark amber color with a small off-white head. Aromas of sweet caramel malt and mild roasted nuts. Flavors of some caramel and nuts, finished bitter and dry. I can’t pinpoint exactly why, but this beer left a pretty bad taste in my mouth. Eh just another subpar offering from Breckenridge.