Left Hand Sawtooth Ale Review

Name: Left Hand Sawtooth Ale
Style: ESB (Extra Special Bitter)
ABV: 5.3%

Today I've got Left Hand Brewing's Sawtooth Ale, which is considered by the brewery to their flagship beer. I've seen this beer quite a few times and finally decided to get this as part of a mix-a-six. There really isn't anything too much to say about this beer aside from the label referring to this as an amber ale whilethe website calls it an ESB.

Appearance - Fairly clear amber color with tons of visible carbonation. The head is quite thin but has some very good retention and the lacing is abundant and sticky

Aroma - Strong yeast and bready-biscuit notes paired with a lightly toasted toffee malt backbone and some dry & floral hoppiness.

Taste - Toffee malts and floral hops are front and center on the palate. The second half of the flavor opens up to a bitter hop and lightly roasted barley notes, both of which also make up the aftertaste.

ESB's are one of those styles that are good, but never seem to floor me when it comes to flavor, and that's the case with this beer. There isn't really anything special about this beer. It's a simple, safe & good tasting beer that's worth adding to your mix-a-six should it be available in your area.

Left Hand Sawtooth Ale - 7.5/10

Left Hand 400 Pound Monkey Review

Name: Left Hand 400 Pound Monkey
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 6.8%

Here's a brewery that is new to my blog: Left Hand Brewing Company, which is based out of Longmont, CO. Today I have their 400 Pound Monkey, which is their English-style IPA. Me being a stickler for name origins, I looked into it and found the official description and I found this:

"Why does the world need another IPA? Because this one ain’t like them others. We use hops of a different color, earthy and herbal, well-balanced by bready malt. The result? An English-style IPA that separates itself from the ubiquitous bunch. Cartloads of bitter monkeys flinging wasteful amounts of bananas into the jungle … we’re so done with that."

Uh........what? First of all, that makes no sense! It's like they took a perfectly good description and decided to take last Saturday's Mad Libs game and tack it onto the description. Secondly, monkeys ARE likely to throw things into the jungle, but it probably won't be bananas.

Appearance - Fairly clear orange color with a mild amount of visible carbonation. The head is about one finger in width and has some pretty good retention, but the same cannot be said for the lacing as it is quite soapy and sparse

Aroma - Significant roasty character with some strong toffee sweetness at the forefront. Behind that are some fairly strong grapefruit & dry hop notes along with some mild yeastiness. Just like the bottle states, it does have a bit of an earthy smell to it as well.

Taste - Strong toffee malts with some grapefruits upfront, the latter of which is more prevalent here that it was in the nose. Following this is a surprisingly mild roastiness and some light marmalade notes. As for the aftertaste, it is here that the bitter resiny hops shine the most along with some light yeastiness & caramel sweetness. I do feel that the earthiness is downplayed more in the flavor as it is in the nose.

Despite my earlier ramblings, 400 Pound Monkey is a great example of an English IPA. With its robust malty backbone and hop profile, you won't be throwing this into the jungle anytime soon. With that said, please don't litter.

Left Hand 400 Pound Monkey - 8.5/10