The bottle used for this review is branded at 6.3% ABV and backs the authentic Yards labeling. This poured a robust woody, amber color splashed with faint maroon hues, with some wildly, sticky carbonation. It also boasted a creamy, tan and soda-like head.

The dominance in this brew is the overwhelming malt character. Extremely prominent in the nose is the chewy caramel malt, though this is smoothed out with some sweeter, not bitter, hops. Finishing the complexity of flavors is mint chocolate chip ice cream, dashed with warm fudge.

Intended for some bitterness, the malt wins again. Huge dark malt flavors mixed with a dry roasted barley body. This comes off full-bodied, quite a bit heavier than I expected, with some coffee and toffee hints sprinkled with dark chocolate esters and finishing with some sweet and slightly bitter hops.

I was impressed, and surprised, by the immense and profound malt character in the ESA. While there were some bittering hops left in the finish, it wasn’t enough to provide an even flavor profile for the mouth. I don’t dislike the dominant malt, as the darkness brought a plethora of flavors to the forefront, but again – balance is key.

Overall: 7.4/10

The smell of this one was pretty muted but I did get subtle hints of caramel malt and really no hop smell. It was a very crisp, light smell. I was expecting a moderate amount of carbonation with this type of brew but was underwhelmed by little to no carbonation after the pour.

The taste of this was outstanding. It was a bit sweet at first but the finish gives you a nice impression of the bitter hops. It was truly a great balance and offset between the two. There was no lingering bitterness and only a very minimal after-taste, which is expected. The warming of the beer really brings out the nice malt and hop flavors. I recommend taking it easy with this one to enjoy the full affect of the brew.

I was quite impressed with this one by Stoudts. I didn’t really expect this taste coming from an ESB, but the surprise was spot-on.

Overall: 8/10