900 English Ale (Town Hall Brewery, Minneapolis, MN)

Listed as English Bitter on the menu, and as a little sibling of  Town Hall Brewery's award winning 1800 IPA, 900 is a surprising little beer that has more to it than expected.

A thin white head falls quickly and disappears over the dark yellow beer with a copper tinge is pretty in the pint, but not overly magnificent and deceives the drinker as to the flavor to come.  Nose is very subtle--light breadiness below an earthy and floral hop.  So far, so good, but the taste is the real trooper for this beer: caramel, bready malt with a respectable hop twang and excellent hop flavor that's redolent of earthy, woodsy and floral.  Nose opens up after 10 min in the glass.  Malt and the English hops shine more.

Extremely clean and well brewed beer.  As an IPA/DIPA/hop addict, this is a beer that delivers a super hop flavor in a session ale without the scorched earth of a hop bomb or the dizzying height of a ABV monster.  While still a sucker for a big beer, this is a pretty amazing beer with a great flavor, a social ale that doesn't skimp on taste.