Dark Star Hophead

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

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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(cask @ The Old Toad - Rochester, NY) Slightly hazy golden color with a soapy and thick white head. Aroma is rather hoppy with some floral notes and some light citrus. Flavor has a very nice and strong hop flavor and a sweet middle of citrus and a nice and bitter hoppy finish. Alcohol isn’t so high that you can’t drink a lot of these. Very nice.

Cask@HBF2007
Pale yellow color, small white head. Citrus hoppy nose. Flowery, lemony hoppy flavor. Citrus fruityness is nicely balanced with backing malts. Good one.

Aroma was amazing, i perhaps rushed this a little it could have done with another days venting. Citrus lychee mandarin grapefruit touch of lemon, really fuckin good aroma. Taste is not as intence with the hops but seriously refreshing hoppy as fuck, bitter great finish. Just as good as brewers gold.

(Rating 500) Gravity, served by Fin at the Merton BF. Warm gold pour, small but sticky white layer of foam. This is just a gorgeous smelling beer, full of sunny early-summer citrus perfume. Delicate crisp citrus bitterness--a wonderful expression of the hop actually being a flower! A touch of round biscuit warmth in the finish adds depth and balance. Clean, bright palate. An elegant full-flavored but delicately balanced beer. Any fool can brew a hoppy pale beer--it takes an artist to brew something like this.

Cask conditioned at Merton Beer Festival 16-02-07. Poured a golden colour and with a thin bubbly head and looking crystal clear. This beer really was a little belter punching far above it’s weight it was a real star and the first to run out at the festival by a good few hours. The aroma was excellent and bettered only by the Crouch Vale Amarillo, with a wonderful fresh zesty fruit and hoppiness. The taste delivered far more punch and flavour than you really should expect from a beer with such a low gravity, with a wonderful juicy fruitiness with grapefruit flavours dominating and a lovely hoppy sign off. This really was a great beer and at this strength a good session beer, top marks to Dark Star again for squeezing so much out of such a relatively low abv beer.

Half pint on cask at The Rake, London Bridge. Filmy layer over a pale golden body. Floral to the nose with a taste of hoppy grapefruit mixed with a malty touch towards the end. Firm mouthfeel supported by some hop bitterness towards the end. Moreish, but a bit watery (01.02.2007)

Handpump at the Doric Arch, Euston, Nov 06. Pale beer with small head. Som malty body tries to get to the front, but is briskly elbowed away by the hops. Flowery, gassy, dry, just as I lie them. And at 3.8%, you can have a few!

Old Cross Tavern, Hertford. Lovely citrus aroma and in the taste. Very refreshing.

UPDATED: OCT 23, 2007 Cask @ The Rake pub on opening day. Looks quite attractive, golden yellow with a nice white head but tastes awful. As I’m sure you can tell by now I’m not a great fan of bitter beers and this both smells and tastes bitter. To be more accurate tasted like a glass of water with hops in it, bland and bitter. Sorry Darkstar, no hard feelings, this just isn’t my thing...
Re-rate - Cask @ The Wenlock.
Renamed on the board as Dickhead by the locals, lol...Boy, did I have the wrong idea above!
Previously rated 6,4,5,3,12. Soapy, grassy hops. Plenty of citrus, grapefruit and lemon meringue. Juicy, bitter hops and citrus all round really. Long, you guessed it, hoppy citrus finish. Refreshing and sessionable, I’m so glad my palate has evolved...

Cask at GBBF 2006. Clear golden colour. Flowery citric nose. Dry bitter flavour