Hepworth Blonde

Brewed by Hepworth
Style: Premium Lager
Horsham, England

Serve in Lager glass

Big, bright cereally amber with a fizzy short lived white head. Lemony nose with hints of yeast. A little cereal tinge along with some lemon flavours. Quite bland though. Weak and watery. Really not sure about this at all, if you are going to make an organic lager, make a good one.

Bottle, 33cl. Not much to discern on the nose, and quite sour with undertones of hops and yeast on the palate. Quite crisp and clean, but disconcertingly short-lived head. Decent enough overall.

Bottle from no* 78. Aroma is caramel and slightly skunky grassy hop. Taste is sweet caramel, hints of wychwood burnt toast character. Mouthfeel would tell me this is actually an alright golden ale, as its not very carbonated at all, but taste is disapointing.

33cl bottle from Cask & Glass. Gold with thin white head. Blast of citric lemon hop on aroma, a bit flat in mouth, but at least not pukey, before more aromatic lemon hops on end. Quite a good attempt. Plenty of flavour.

UPDATED: MAR 19, 2006 330ml bottle, purchased from Bairds Farm Shop, Climping, Sussex (best before 6 December 2006). Hepworths seem to have dropped the "Cool" from the name and its now just called Blonde. Pours a rich fold colour with a big, fluffy, white head. It may start off "luxuriant" but dwindled away to nothing pretty smartish. The aroma isn’t too clean, with more cereally malt than hop. British organic beers invariably seem to use New Zealand hops (as we don’t grow hops organically here), which sometimes seem a bit lacking zippy freshness. Which is the case here. There’s a hint of wet cardboard. Improves somewhat on the palate, although its still a bit short of hop presence. Clean and a touch sharp, making for a quite refreshing beer. Not very lively on the tongue, so the mouthfeel is quite soft. Nonetheless, a marked, lasting, acidity develops strongly in the aftertaste. Could do with a bit more zesty zing.

(Bottle 33 cl) Comes simply as "Hepworth Blonde" - nothing cool here. Unclear, pale golden with a small, white head. Lightly tart nose. Medium body with a marked malty sweetness and some lightly fruity notes. Almost no hops in the finish. Soft and smooth with a high drinkabilitry. 290106

A hazy light yellow beer with a thin white head. The aroma is sweet with primary notes of straw, but also light notes of malt. The flavor has the strongest notes of citrus, but also a light malt note.

Bottle. Hazy yellow coloured with a small white head. Sweet arma of malts, corn and grain. Sweet flavour of malts, corn and cardboard.