Written By: The Gnarly Gnome
Photography By: The Gnarly Gnome
3/7/2025
It’s Bock season here in Cincinnati, and I respect the heck out of bock beer. (I’ll be consuming more than my fair share all weekend, just to show my respect). That doesn’t mean that I’m not a sucker for a great English style (as I’ve written about before). In fact, I think it’s pretty fitting that the last English style that I wrote about happened to be Fuller’s ESB.
When I heard that HighGrain was tapping an ESB, I had to get my gnarly butt out to their Brentwood taproom for some lunch, and some incredible English-style beer.
What You Might Have Missed
Extra Special Bitter (that’s what ESB stands for) was a style created by Fuller’s. They have so much ownership over what this style is (because they made it) that if you’re a brewer in the UK, you can’t really make it because it’s THEIRS; they copyrighted it.
Not so much here in the United States. In fact, our craft breweries have been making their own versions of an ESB for as long as I can remember. Sometimes they call them “amber ales”, or “English ambers” or something else, but they’re around. Oftentimes, only as a shadow of the beer that made me fall in love with the style, though.
That’s not true with HighGrain’s new ESB, called Innit. It’s incredible.
It’s Not Fuller’s… But Maybe That’s A Fuller’s Problem
I always approach a new ESB with a bit of hesitation. I have a theory that many of the things that I have come to expect (and even love) from beer aren’t really supposed to be there. What I have come to expect is a mixture of the true beer character and some other stuff that comes from being a little beat up from a long journey across the ocean.
What does that mean for this beer from HighGrain?
They’ve made an ESB that tastes what I expect Fuller’s SHOULD taste like. If I was able to belly up to the bar at Fuller’s (do they have a tasting bar on site? I don’t know…) I would taste a beer that tastes exactly like this ‘Innit’ does. It satisfies something profound inside my soul like no “American ESB” ever has before – and I don’t take that statement lightly.
What’s It Like?
The glass of ESB hits the bar in front of me, and the perfectly diffused sunlight from a cloudy day lights it up. I’m blessed with a slightly hazy, caramel-colored beer with a thin, very light tan head on top. In my notes, I described the beer as looking like an almond split open; it is a great description of the colors next to each other, if I do say so myself.
The aromas immediately caught my attention. Tons of light fruit aromas dance around floral notes and an underlying earthiness. This only takes on a bolder, stronger personality when you take your first sip.
This beer perfectly balances earthy hops, caramel and roasty malt, with a delicate floral overtone that softens everything up.
I’m in love.
Get It
Don’t skip this one. I can’t promise that it’ll be around for very long (I also can’t promise that it won’t) – I haven’t heard any details about the possibilities of it hitting packaging, either. What I can tell you is that right NOW, it’s on tap at both Brentwood and Silverton.
Go to the nearest taproom as soon as possible and start drinking glasses of beer until you are cut off. Rinse and repeat.
If you want to know more about HighGrain, you can find out more by visiting their website, or following them on Facebook or Instagram. Really, though… I wouldn’t waste any time. Go there, now.
Related
