With pulsing candied sweetness confronting crisp hop bitterness, the rustic Beast Bitter carves out its own distinctive niche. The dragon regalia is a gas. (So as long as we’re celebrating the Middle Ages, hand me a beer, wench!) Pale-hued foamy white-headed full body counters honeyed apricot motif with buttery malts, leafy earthiness, and unusual assortment of spicy adjuncts.

Parched caramelized malts lie atop bitter hop canopy darkened by dry floral spicing and miniscule tart fruiting. But clean mountain water consistency can’t save phenol finish from diluted astringency.

Harshly carbolic, foam-ridden Bitter folds subdued cardboard graining beneath honeyed biscuit vestige and earthen hops. But alcohol coarsening and diacetyl nature ravage dry toffee smidgen.

Fruitier upgraded version of Belk’s E.S.B. brings serenely cereal-grained orange-grapefruit tang to lemony floral-hopped bittering. Soapy finish slightly downgrades well-balanced easy-to-drink medium body.

Softly textured ‘draught pasteurized’ premium ale with desolate barley-hopped malts supporting meager quince blitz and ester-y grape snip to bland creamy caramel finish. Watery texture similar to most British canned draughts, except this is an ale, not pilsner or lager.

Bright citrus aroma and dry hop graining ensure mild barley-toasted honey wheat contour. On close inspection, hints of mandarin orange, apricot, and coarse nut fill out bitter backdrop, but restrained mineral-grained finish remains under-whelming. Worthwhile for pilsner and lager fans as a crossover.

Pour slowly honey-glowed, flesh-headed, bottle conditioned, peach-sweetened ale, allowing five minutes to properly aerate (or risk overt foam reaction). Expressive apricot-orange-grapefruit juiciness gains coriander-ginger insistence as vivacious ambrosia-dandelion-rosebud-spearmint-sandalwood allure saturates embittered hops. Grassy wheat fringe underscores protracted off-dry spicing. Fine as tangy fruit dessert alternative.

Healthy, hearty, heady Extra Special Bitter counters heavy grain influence and silken yeast sweetness with vinous grape touch. Toasted barleymalts enrich edgy hop bitterness matching pungent earthy aroma. Well balanced and sturdy from first swallow to finish.

Satisfactory amber-clouded bottle-conditioned dry-hopped Bitter retains ripe cherry overtones, spritzy carbolic fizz, and fuzzy soft water flow. Sustained grain briskness, though moderated, recalls British pilsners.

Middling phenol-fizzed bitter loses Fuggle-hopped sass as well as barley-roasted toffee-butterscotch sweetness by unresolved cereal grain finish. Raspberry-cider tartness dissipates in tea-like midst.

Wispily aromatic tangerine zesting prickled by spiced hop phenols as bright tropical fruiting serenades thinly sinewed butterscotch-yeast pleasantries juxtaposing smoky peat malting of dry bitter. Softly settling mocha finish punctuated by maple-cedar wood tones and ashen earthiness.

Well-rounded English-styled Bitter connects initial barley-roasted earthiness to sweetly soured clover-honeyed cocoa-powdered mocha muck. Rye-pumpernickel breading and recurrent dried cherry-apple sweetness broaden scope. Damning phenolic astringency is only drawback.