Yards Extra Special Ale (ESA)
Our first ever and most beloved brew, ESA helped establish a following for cask-conditioned beer in the United States back in the ‘90s. East Kent Golding hops give this English style ale a subtle spiciness, which compliments its strong malt backbone. Hints of chocolate and caramel round out this deep chestnut colored ale. Floral, earthy, smooth.
3.3
348 reviews
Philadelphia, United States
Community reviews
Citrus and a touch of nut in this. Malt has a big profile. Some light sourness. Pours amber with good head and great lacing. Tap at brewpub.
Bottle at brother Charlie’s bachelor camp-out - CT, October 2013. Pours red-brown with a creamy topping. Tasty, bready, simple. Touches of sugary malts. Light to medium bodied with fine to average carbonation. More basic bready malts on the finish, low bitterness, faint leaves and fruit. Basic but tasty and easy-drinking.
Dark brown almost ruby pour. Half a finger of lacing white! Aroma is caramel, a bit of toffee, and dark fruit. Taste is moderately sweet with a bitterness throughout
Bottle into a tulip glass. Pour is a dark amber almost brown. Aroma is thick and full bodied malt with a hint of sweetness. Taste is a sweet and bitter with a thick malt back. Finish is warm. Very good ale.
Transfer from BA review on 7-12-14 -
Served on cask in a 10 oz chalice glass
Appearance – The beer is served a deeper amber color with a big off white head. Upon fading the head levels a moderate amount of lacing on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The nose is mainly of roasted malt, but mixed with it are notes of dark fruit (cherry and prune) as well as some light earthy hop aromas.
Taste – The taste begins heaviest of roasted malt with some sweeter caramel notes. As the taste advances however the caramel sweet fades and more hop flavors come to the tongue. The hop begins with just some more earthy like flavors, but then lighter floral flavors develop as well. In the end of the taste the roasty flavors and hop flavors with the lack of sweetness leave a slightly bitter aftertaste on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – The body of the beer is on the light to medium side with the low cask carbonation giving it the classic cask creamy feel. The smoothness of the brew really suits the roasty flavors as well as the more floral and earthy hop flavors and overall suit the beer quite well.
Overall – Easy drinking and a pretty good taste. A brew and one to try if you get a chance.
Pours a lovely rich amber hue. Soft carbonation under a loose foamy head. The beer itself is clear with no haze.
A nice aroma of complex malts with sutble nuances of caramelized malts. Hop bouquet of earthy and woody notes.
There is a nice pronounced malt character here that is rather complex in it’s additoode.
Hops are lightly present, bringing up the rear with a sutble earthy bite.
A medium body beer that’s smooth and well rounded. It’s a bit dry with a slight bitter after taste.
Classic tasting beer that’s loaded with style.
Bottle to English pint. Pours deep amber, two finger head, moderate lacing. Nose is earthy, fruity. Taste is toasty sweet, earthy bitterness typical of English hops. Medium body, light carbonation, fruity mouth feel. Finishes with notes of toasty malts, dark fruits and an earthy floral little bitter tang at the end. Decent brew.
Cask offering at O’Neal’s Pub. The cask variety adds an element of sourness to the normally bitter nature of this beer. Nice woody, dried fruit aroma, more dried fruit in the taste. This is more of a sipper, bringing to mind dubbels and sours. Nice!
Disappointing. Extra dull, just nothing special about this beer. Bland, not hoppy, watered-down taste.
Hand drawn pour it has a caramel color, roasty but a light coffee flavor, malt aroma with a sweetness on the back of the tongue.
Pours brown with thick head. Malty, bready, slight bitterness. Aromas are malt, subtle vanilla, and hint of caramel. Decent ale.
Caramel-y sweet with a earthy British bitter finish. Brown in color with a foamy white head.
Bottle->nonic. Lite amber with big frothy offwhite head. A: caramel malt, bread, oats. T: roasted malt, spice, sweet bread. Some metallic notes spoil the show.
Crazy foamy pour that took forever to diminish - not sure if that’s standard. It has a nice malty aroma with just a hint of bitterness which is quite true tot the taste. It has an excellent light and creamy mouthfeel. A solid beer overall!
Bottle. Good beer-not as good as yards pale ale but not bad. Would drink again.
At Yards. Amber with nice off white head. Slight malt nose. Nice hop presence up front backed by toasted malt. Well balanced.
very drinkable. might be my favorite from yards... close match between this and the IPA.
aroma: nothing too special
appearance: fine
taste: delicious
palate: good first sip, even better finish.
overall: as a hop-lover, sometimes the IPAs can get tiresome. this is what I would consider a wonderful session beer.
Em liked this a lot. Soft for a bitter with delicate hopping. Good bitter but a bit off style.
3/28/13. Sampled during CBC 2013. Amber pour with a small khaki head. Mild caramel, apple, and black tea in the aroma, with some biscuit and bready aspects. Fruity flavor, apple and caramel, tea, bread, toast, and biscuits. Not bad.
3/31/13. Easter Sunday pregame sitting in kitchen. Really pretty amber color. Doors blew off the shed again and I just took out the trash
Great for a winter warmer. Really enjoy a 6 er of these while watching Philadelphia Flyers hockey! Not too heavy and great flavor to keep you going for 3 periods plus. Carmely and spruce notes in the finish but not overwhelming at all. Well balanced
On tap at Joe Canals West Deptford.
Appearance: Clear copper body with a tall creamy tan head.
Aroma: The aroma is fruity of apple with a caramel backing.
Taste: Light bitterness with apples and caramel through to the finish which is slightly dry with toasted malts.
Palate: Medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Very solid ESB. I wish I had tried this sooner, I will be buying it often now.
Not crazy about ESA's on any level, but wanted to try this fairly local beer(I'm in south jersey). Pours pretty dark, very very rich malt aroma, you can pick up toasted barley. The head is fairly rich and a little off white. Consistency was pretty average. Bursts of rich toasty malt at first sip, finished with more barley and a long bitter finale that definitely lingers. If you're into extra special ales, you could certainly do a lot worse than this-but I'll stick to my APA's and IPA's
One of the best ales I've had. Smooth and refreshing, and the flavor doesn't leave for wanting.
--rated by smash on bb.
Extra specials aren’t really my thing, but this one works for me just fine. Bitter, not too thin, and a mild pleasant almost maple scent.
Bottle. Pours amber with a medium, off-white head. Malty caramel and bread aroma with some nice floral and grassy hop notes. Caramel and bread malt flavors with a touch of nuttiness and a surprising amount of grassy and floral hop bitterness.
On hand pump. Foamy off white head, creamy appearing. Smooth, a little too much hops for me - moderately harsh flavors with smooth body. Not bad though, nice sweetness with good lasting flavors and a long retaining aftertaste.
Firkin at Real Ale. Pours a clean dark amber with some white head and lacing. Notes of caramel, roasted malt, raisin, some hops.
My first try at a Yards brew, and I mighty impressed. Nothing earth-shattering, but it’s got a great taste, and the pour looks absolutely gorgeous.
Bottle. Medium/dark amber color. Malty taste for an ipa. Below avg nonhoppy aroma. Eh. Too malty.