Extra Special Bitter

This is a style of beer I think (maybe I'm wrong) had a surge in popularity in the craft beer world around 20 years ago, around the time I got interested in craft beer. I say that and of course I can't think of any other than Red Hook's. There were far fewer craft breweries back then, and Red Hook, along with Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams, stood out as one of the giants in the industry. Perhaps it was Red Hook's ESB that was at the root of that popularity (or what I perceived as popular).

I had a beer-brewing kit for around 2 years, between 2007-2009. By then I noticed the popularity of ESB had waned quite a bit. For that reason, and also because I thought the ESB recipes looked straight-forward, I picked this beer as my first brew. Of course my career as a brewer was pretty short. I made an ESB, a hefeweizen, and a Belgian-style dubbel total. Hopefully I'll get back to this hobby again.

Until I do, I'm happy to have found this ESB from Working Draft. It's great, and I think probably a good example, though I don't remember these well. ESBs aren't usually very hoppy (though I think Red Hook's sort of is), and they also shouldn't be confused with ambers, which I think have a more rounded and sweet maltiness, and are also (I think) hoppier.