Gritty's Best Bitter was the first beer ever brewed at the Portland brewpub location. This year, its celebrating twenty years on tap! A pretty impressive feat for a traditional English style bitter here in Maine.From the Gritty McDuff's site:
Best Bitter is a copper-hued and well-balanced ale with real old world integrity. We use fine Yakima Golding hop flowers in the brewing of this beer for a fine dry finish that compliments the malty palate. The taste captures the freshness of a hand-drawn ale that goes right from the conditioning tank to your glass!
Pours a clean, golden color, or copper as the site says, with a half-finger foamy head. Not a lot of carbonation as this beer settles into its short, fate-filled life inside my pint glass. Looks very easy to drink.
Smell is familiar. Its sweet, bready, yeasty and doughy. The smells intermingle more and become stronger as this one warms a bit. This is what is to be expected from the British style ales produced on the Peter Austin open fermentation system.
One sip and I am taken back to the last time I had this on tap. Its been awhile. Its very smooth, faintly carbonated and very swiggable. Plenty of malty sweetness with not a lot of after taste notes. This is a basic beer from Gritty's. I don't mean that in a bad way, I just mean its there flagship brew that is solid, simple and easy to drink. Obviously the bottled form has nothing on the cask conditioned drafts you'll find on tap at Gritty's. If you've never had this beer, start with that option if at all possible.
BEER FACTS
Style: ESB
Brewery: Gritty McDuff's Brewpub
Location: Portland, Maine, USA
Container: 12 oz. bottle
Malts: ?
Hops: Yakima Goldings
ABV: 5%
IBUs: 25
Brewed in Maine
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