Dark Star Six Hop Ale

Brewed by Dark Star
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Horsham, England

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

Cask (Kuikka, Helsinki)
Rich orange, persistent thin head. Lovely hoppy aroma. Orange hoppy taste at first, but a massive wave of pleasantly-caramelly malts comes over on swallowing. Full sweet body, and a lovely hoppy finish. However, the malts are there in the finish too. Covers 6.5% brilliantly. Very well balanced. More please!

Cask takeout from Middle Farm, Sussex, 22nd Feb 2009. Amber, rather still. Lots and lots of sharp hops as you’d expect, on the tongue and the nose. Very American in this regard, a treat for hop heads.

On tap in the Evening Standard, Brighton. Clear orange colour with a thin white head. Smooth with a silky texture. Hops galore, citrus fruit. Makes a bitter IPA. I found changes from a decent hoppy IPA to a sweet smooth ale towards the end. I liked the start but to silky at the finish.

At Wenlock. Amber beauty. Hoppy nose, with lots of grapefruit. Solid IPA taste of hops, powerful citrus, grapefruit and orange. Another excellent Dark Star beer.

Cask @ Wenlock Arms, A little unlucky here I think. Possibly last one from the cask but this was disappointing. Clouded yellow colour with a few floaters. Yeast flavour dominate the powerful hop aromas. Will re-rate when I find it again.

Intensely hoppy beer, but that’s to be expected. Very fruity, grapefruit especially. Exceptionally easy drinking considering both it’s strength and the intense flavours. Another top beer from Dark Star.

Cask @ The Rake. Popped to Utobeer on my lunch break and thought I’d have a cheeky pint before heading back to work. I’m so glad I did! Clear golden amber with a thin white head. Fresh floral and citrus, grapefruit/orange, hop nose with some sweet underlying malts. Taste is much the same, nice bitter hop bite at first with a lovely sweet syrupy malt backbone and a long stingy swallow. Needless to say, I rode the bus back to the office with a big smile on my face.

cask at blackfriers- pours deep amber copper colour, smells earth toffee butter, and citrus, tastes juicy orange clementine lemon rind, in a delicate manner, fresh. citrus dominating but balanced in all. very good doesnt hint to its 6.5/ good stuffs.

Cask gravity at Planet Thanet BF 08. First beer of the festival and one of about 5 that I was genuinely excited about. Gold with lasting beige head. Big PNW grapefruity aroma. Fruity grapefruit in mouth, malts are a bit syrupy, rather than biscuity. Hops on finish are really crunchingly green and attack the mouth. Great English beer for a hophead like me. Lovely.

UPDATED: MAY 7, 2012 Cask handpump at FFTMC Oxford 22-03-08 This looks stunning, poured amber with amazing clarity and with a nice little white head. First sip was a wonderful mouthful of marmaladeyness (if there is such a word) and then every subsequent taste brings an onslaught of hops. This is a well executed hoppy assault and its as though it’s been bought forth Cleopatra style, but instead of asses milk the hops are bathed in the most wonderful warm, sweet ,honey rich layers of liquid mmmmhhhh lovely. Yesterday it was Oakham Haka that stole the show, today its this. Yer know there is very little I can do to fault this beer but I felt that two days after being put on the aroma was starting to wane a little from how Casey had described it. Don’t get me wrong it was still good but it really needed a good swish to get much from it. But what a beer, go and get some and enjoy. A7 A5 T9 P4 Ov18 4.3 Had this again on Cask, handpump at The Evening Star, Brighton,Saturday 5th May 2012 Pours mid amber with a white head. Lovely bittersweet beer that had a good companion in the Dark Star Revelation. The marmalade flavours are still there and this is one very, very good beer, but on this occasion I think the Dark Star Revelation ran out the winner, though Loz may disagree. Gloriously fruity, hoppy wonderful cask conditioned IPA. A7 A4 T8 P4 Ov15 3.8