This beer is very much its cousin like Old Speckled Hen...but as canned OSH is to bottled, that bottled OSH is to Morland's Hen's Tooth. It pours a medium caramel colour with a swiftly dissipating head as befits a southern English ESB. It has a texture that is unusual - yeasty enriched, somwhow grainy, creating a complex profile. The hops are front-forward but not in the way of a US IPA. Green and grapefruit at the first nose and sip quickly evolve into a mouthful of summer bitter herbal greens. There is an alcohol sweet bite with the sweet pie crust, husky and crystal malt, even some candy. A true multi-layered ale which may be the Freeminer Stout of ESBs. The yeast is phenomenal in its sandy delicacy - apple and spice, sub-Belgian. The Shepherd Neame Bishops's Finger that followed was quite single-minded in comparison, a shocking admission.

$2.99 USD at Portland, Maine. The beer advocates that get it, get it. Prize.