From Surrey’s Russell Brewing comes their “Blood Alley Extra Special Bitter”.  The beer pours a copper colour with an off white head.  The aroma consists of caramel, mild roasted malts, fruit and floral hops.  The flavour is of roasted malts, caramel, grapefruit, pine, resin and bitterness.  The alcohol content comes in at 5.5% with an IBU of 50.  While this is not your typical ESB because the bitterness is a bit to high I quite enjoy it.

Commercial Description:  Blood Alley Bitter is an Extra Special Bitter named after a notorious cobblestone laneway in Vancouver’s Gastown district. At 50 IBU’s this beer is slightly higher in bitterness than the average ESB but it is well-balanced by the rich, roasted malt flavours.
Stylistically, the malt side is very English, but the hops are all floral US varieties. Brewed with only the best including: 2-row Pilsner malt, Flaked Barley, UK Crystal Malt, and a touch of UK Chocolate Malt. We use Columbus hops in the brew kettle, and dry hop with Cascade and Willamette.  PART OF THE RUSSELL BREWMASTER SERIES – a succession of small batch beers crafted for an unconventional beer drinker.