Dark Star Hophead

Brewed by Dark Star
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Haywards Heath, England

Guest beer at Staggs Musselburgh. Nice looking beer, head lasts well. Nicely balanced malt/hops on the palate, with an average finish, not bad.

Cask at the Market Porter, London: Pours a clear bright golden with a dense, but thin and well-lacing head. Aroma has lots of fresh piney hops and some subtle dry caramel. Body starts semi-sweet, floral, and hoppy with a nice malty balance and smooth palate. Finishes crisp and bittersweet. A very nice, incredibly drinkable beer.

Floral, grapefruit, pine, orange hops in the nose with some lightly toasty underlying malt sweetness. Clear blonde body with a lasting white head. Chewy, biscuity malt flavours with grapefruit-citrus and pine hop flavour and pleasant balancing bitterness in the dry finish. Medium-light body with moderate, crisp carbonation. Cask at GBBF 2005.

Cask, Peterborough Fest 05. Light gold in colour. Aromas are bitter, fresh green pine with some sweet maltiness and pepper. Flavours are citrus fruit with grassy fresh hops. As hoppy as expected with a dry finish. Light, simple and refreshing.

Cask @ GBBF 2005: Golden coloured. Clear. White dense head. Fruit, hops and sweetness in the nose. Has some herbal and flowery fruityness in the flaovur. Orangy and smooth. Has a very nice bitterness in the end. Is clean and crisp. Very good one.

Cask at GBBF 2005. Pale golden beer with excellent firm head. Glorious flowery aroma. Buttery, fruity taste and a good touch of dryness. Brilliant.

Cask at County Hotel JDW, Ashford. One of my favourite all time beers. Golden in colour with wonderful citrus, grassy, hoppy flavours. The malt gives it some red berry notes and the finish is long and hoppy and dry. Simply fantastic session beer I can drink all night. 4.7/5 Re-rate, gravity dispense cask at Butcher’s Arms, Herne. The grapefruit sherbert hop is stunning.

[cask at dba NY] when an American sees the term "hophead" attached to the name of a beer, he gets certain expectations - the American, used to the brutal, "unrefined," palate-assaulting, paint-peeling flavor of a Dreadnaught and a Ruination expects that something named Hophead brings the promise of a mouth-puckering attack of hops - the American, obviously a plebeian that doesn’t appreciate the subtle nuances of a good golden ale, remarks, "this doesn’t taste like much of anything at all; where the hell are the hops?" - yes, there are some very subtle touches of grapfruit and grain, but, he thinks, "can’t the British make anything besides Bitters and Golden Ales, I mean, really, come on." But the American just doesn’t know what he’s talking about. His palate is ruined by all of those high gravity American monstrosities that shouldn’t even be called beer, what with their deviations from tradition and sense of experimentation. A pox on them all!