Deschutes’ Bachelor ESB is another of their standard beers that, like Cascade Ale, is often overlooked in favor of their higher-profile beers—but is, in fact, one of their most award-winning offerings. At 5.3%, this is actually a bit stronger than the more popular Mirror Pond Pale Ale.

This is a terrific beer, one I really need to drink more often. And here’s a hint: at the Pub, they have Bachelor Bitter—which is the same—only on cask. Bachelor ESB is good from the bottle—but it’s great cask-conditioned.

Appearance: A tawny copper brown, clear. Light tan head with a tint of orange(?).

Smell: Caramel notes and a malty, heady aroma; earthy, spicy hops too.

Taste: Spicy, earthy hops fill the mouth and a generous, malty backbone follows that up. Crisp, caramel malts and a nice, biting bitterness is the overall presentation, very traditional.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, a tad light; very clean hop bite washes the palate clean and leaves a pleasant residual hop bitterness.

Overall: Clean and tasty, a traditional (non-American) hop note that’s a nice change. Very well done, it’s a shame this isn’t more prevalent.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of B+. On RateBeer, it scores 3.57 out of 5, and is in their 88th percentile.