Badger Hill Minnesota Special Bitter Review

Name: Badger Hill Minnesota Special Bitter
Style: Extra Special Bitter (ESB)
ABV: 5.7%

A couple years ago, a new brewery called Badger Hill Brewing opened it's doors in Minnetonka, Minnesota. The name of the brewery is from the names of the two brothers, who founded the brewery, translated into Old English. Currently they share their building and equipment with another brewery which is also fairly new: Lucid Brewing (Keep an eye out for a review from them in the near future.)

Today I'm having their Minnesota Special Bitter (or MSB), an ESB style ale which is one of their most popular beers. To my knowledge, it's also one of the first beers which they released.

MSB pours a darker orange color with a slight haze. The head is very thin and has more of a creamy appearance to it. Also in case you were wondering, I took a couple sips before taking the photo so that's why there isn't any foam present in the photo above.

The aroma has some mild floral hops and biscuit notes. There is also a slight malty and marmalade sweetness in here as well. Nothing too out of the ordinary here.

The flavor is what you’d expect of an ESB with yeasts, malts, and light orange/marmalade sweetness. However, there is a surprisingly strong floral hop presence here along with a bitter resiny aftertaste.

Compared to other ESBs, it's got a heavier weighted body along with some with some mild carbonation. It has a somewhat creamy feel which helps out tremendously with the drinkability.

I thought this was pretty good; It's got a nice balanced flavor with some good hoppiness to boot without being too overwhelming. All and all, MSB is a solid offering from Badger Hill and I can't wait to try out more beers from these guys.

Badger Hill Minnesota Special Bitter - 8.25/10