Monday, January 24, 2011

Day 24, Jan 24 / Hobgoblin Dark English Ale

Day 24 / Jan 24

Witney, Oxfordshire, England

Where:         Home

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"What's the matter Lagerboy, afraid you might taste something?"

In the last few days, I’ve had beers from Mexico, Belgium and Barcelona.  Before I head back home to the U, S & A, I making a stop in the town of Witney, Oxfordshire, England, about 70 miles northwest of London.

Hobgoblin Ale is the flagship beer of the Wychwood Brewery, founded in 1983 by a bloke named Paddy Glenny.  I like it already!

Hobgoblin is a dark red, almost brown ale in the glass, with a rich, creamy head.  The taste was very good, you can taste the malt, a little bit of hop character, and maybe a little citrus taste. 

It’s definitely the leading candidate so far for BOTW this week (Beer of the Week if you haven’t been paying attention).  And I certainly will be trying other beers from Wychwood throughout the course of the year!


NOTE 1:  Wychwood’s website is incredible!  It’s full of trolls, goblins, games and hidden surprises.  Oh yeah, it also talks about their beers.

NOTE 2:  The label on the bottle says, “CONTAINS BARLEY MALT. Please drink sensibly.”  I’m not sure if these two sentences are connected.  Is there an inherent danger in barley malt?

NOTE 3:  That “Lagerboy” slogan above is Hobgoblins’s challenge to drinkers of pale lager, a more popular style of beer in Britain, to consume a more prominently-flavored drink.


1 comment:

  1. The Lager Boy slam is due to the fact that the young drinkers of England, a country known for its ales, have shown much more inclination to drink lagers over the past decade or so. This has been to the chagrin of the older ale-drinking Brits. The warning about barley malt is tongue-in-cheek as well.

    I have seen their ales many times but never tried one. Now I will have to!

    Cheers
    Henry

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