Goose Island Honkers Ale

Brewed by Goose Island Beer Company (AB-InBev)
Style: Bitter
Chicago, Illinois USA

Serve in English pint

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

Chicago Airport August 4 2003: Am I rating the same beer here as everyone else? Well maybe the same as Crit but that is it. Very faintly hazy amber under a medium creamy yellow white head. One of the most unpleasant aromas I have ever sampled in a beer: stale cornmeal, old chicken manure and algal bloom aroma. Medium to light body. Poorly balanced lingering stale medium bitter with hint of malt start. Late mild stale bitter finish and aftertaste. Yuk!

12 ounce bottle. Nice copper color topped by a fluffy white head. Fragrant spicy hop aroma. Caramel-like malt flavor balances nicely with the subtle hop prescence. This is a smooth flavorful ale that reminds me of Boddington’s or Fuller’s. Nicely done.

12 oz bottle pours a hazy golden orange with lasting white head but hardly any lacing. Smell is malty with some floral hops. Aroma is the same with caramel, sugar and perhaps citrus. Taste is slightly bitter, with a clean finish. Body is light and carbonation is average. I enjoyed this more the first time I tried it, on tap, a few years ago. A good but not great beer, which doesn’t begin to compare to some of the great bitters I had the last time I visited England.

Bottle (355ml, The Goat, Glasgow):

Hops on a malt base along with a good summer fruit like smell. There are hints of citrus and a touch of caramel but not a lot of it.
Copper to orange, a small bubbly white head that stays throughout.
Malt base with some fruit hops on top. It is almost like an English IPA with some sweet flavours and a helping of sugar. There is a very light pine taste and touches of citrus.
Medium, smooth but with a slight sticky sweet end that is coupled by some nice bitter notes. Sweet overall & complimented with bitter finish. Easy to drink and refreshing too.

An excellent beer, a lot lighter and more refreshing than I had been expecting. The taste is nice and sweet with a good balance between it and the bitter finish,It wasn’t an overly exciting beer but one that I enjoyed and will probably seek out again.

Honkes ale pours a bright and clear amber color. It has a good size head and is off white in color. Light carbonation. Aroma is malty with pale and crystal malts and light hop aroma. Flavor seems alittle weak. There is thin malts toast and some faint fruity esters at the end. Medium feel with a bit of a harsh bitter finish. Drinks pretty nice aside from the harsh finish.

12oz bottle. Aroma of caramel malts with a little toffee and floral and slightly citrusy hops. Flavor the same. Average texture. A decent beer.

April 2007: from BA. Brown 35.5cl bottle, red backed front label, black rear label telling me to drink it before 07-2007, so I did. The rear label also told me to pour it into an imperial pint glass, so I did that too. Bought in Tanner’s, Bridgnorth, Shropshire. Almost cloudy, not the sparkling bitter look I was expecting, dull copper in colour, the small white head just vanished before my eyes leaving a wispy floating scum of a covering. Malts in the aroma, sweet esters of caramel too. Fizzy, it made me burp. Fairly bitter, none of the sweet aroma comes out in the taste, the malts are still there, but not as prominent as they were in the smell. As the beer warmed up, I enjoyed it more and the maltiness re-asserts its self. Not a huge mouthfeel from this beer, almost watery, but that would be unfair, there is a lingering metalic feel which I don’t like though. Glad I tried it, got to see what you chaps over the pond are drinking haven’t I? This isn’t a typical English Bitter by any stretch of the imagination, but I would like to try it on tap one day, just to see what it’s like served in a bar.

Notes Only. Rated out of a plastic cup at the Prudential center. Yum. Malty, mostly caramel. Tastes a bit of plastic... wonder why.

On bottle Golden reddish, good foam Balanced beer, some hoppy notes Medium body & complexity Very enjoyable ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Poured into my Sam Adams Perfect Pint glass from a 12 ounce bottle bottled on 2-20-2012.

A: Crystal clear amber body with a steady stream of fast moving carbonation rising to met a dense light tan head that leaves a mess on the glass. This beer looks stunning in the glass.

S: Decent aroma here, smells like "beer." Toasted malts, mild floral notes, and light citrus.

T: Mildly sweet caramel, slight toasted malts, and a very slight floral hops. Easy drinking beer, I could drink this all day.

M: Light to medium body with very slightly soft carbonation on the finish with a mild stabbing on the tongue after the beer is gone.

O: This is a great easy drinking summer beer I could drink all day, especially at the ABV. This is how a low ABV beer should be done.

330ml bottle. Amber body with a medium beige head. Aroma of malts, citrus and flowers. Light malty and flowery taste. Medium body and bitterness.