Dark cola hue, lace-y tan head, sweet mocha waft, and creamy malt texture up-front. Bitter chocolate nuances, dulcet fruity hints, and ripe raisin stint nearly nullified by pungent barley-hop insistence. However, this Particular Ale needs clearer, distinct character to be considered first-rate.

Russet Extra Special Bitter gives laid-back fruity waft concise chocolate-caramel initiation quickly juxtaposed by peppery hop bite, orange peel souring, and floral spicing to ample maple malt finish. Warning: high acidity may prelude amateurs.

Dirty-grained dry coffee template initially stimulates hop-smitten, prune-bodied, ruby-glowed ale. Then sappy molasses malts enjoin black chocolate and flack barley for unexpectedly mild appeal beckoning Scotch-like sweetness lingering firmly to bitter smoked ash finish.

Crisp ruddish bitter with flowery hops, pleasant caramel malts, and dry citrus punctuality. But fragile barleymalt sweetness inefficient by faded nutty finish.

Sharply carbonated traditional English ale juxtaposes bitter hops with creamy caramel and sweet whiskey. Mild barley-wheat finish loses spunk to tinny aftertaste.

Packaged to grip as a hand grenade, Ruddles’ flat-topped wide-mouth bottle is truly unique. Rich sienna-hued ale given proper English-styled hop bitterness, hitching emphatic smoked wood chips to heavy malt extract and dank grain must. Canned version picks up metallic twang.

Legendary steamboat captain’s garnet-hued London-styled bitter retains dry-bodied appeal nasty iodine aftertaste ruins. Paucity of grain thickness curtailed by unexpected floral hop serendipity and sour yeast prod, but earthy finish seems closer to a tinny copper ale with its blunt hop must, pallid malt restraint, and lightly toasted biscuit undertow.

Sweet malt-wafted English-styled Extra Special Bitter lacks appropriate enriched bitterness then finishes weak and predictable. Blunt hops disturb initial toasted grain development, blemishing delicate chocolate malt insistence and maple sap suggestion. Nowhere near as thick and heavy as false “Anvil” signifier.

Dank grain-malted prune-hued ESB leads sweet barley inlet and bitter hop undercurrent down into blandly soft-watered Scotch basin. Distant nuttiness caresses unassuming mineral grain finish.

Citric-perfumed ESB counters initial barleymalt sweetness and earthy mineral grain ascendancy with hop-tingled orange peel bitterness, but desolate finish rather toned down for English bitter styling.

Sedately mild English Bitter needs firmer bruised lemon souring and more vigorous floral hop bittering. Dry earthen vegetal hint and sweet tobacco stint bring scant compensation.

Up-front rye determination of copper-bronzed bitter lingers way past wheat-cracked barley biscuit confluence and mild chicory sway, finishing with a honeyed Scotch-like warmth.