Hook Norton Twelve Days (Cask)

Brewed by Hook Norton
Style: English Strong Ale
Banbury, England

Serve in English pint, Trappist glass

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UPDATED: DEC 28, 2005 Jan, 2004. <a href=http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/59/590 Catford. This is one of those beers I’ve been wanting to try for some time, and I was so pleased to see it on the pump. I had a few anxious moments as the barman was pumping it up - it was frothing all over the place as though it were the bottom of the cask. He stopped pumping and put the foaming glass on the counter only half full. I was fully expecting the words, "It’s finished." But he just sighed, got another glass and tried again. More foam. More pumping. More foam. More pumping. Until at last he put a soaking wet glass on the counter in front of me - full to the brim. I smiled in relief! And what a nice beer it is. Good dark malty flavours - not top quality - a bit salty, and the flavours are little limited in range - but nice enough. The body is reasonable, but the beer does comes over more like a dark lager than a dark ale (not helped in this case by being served a bit too cold). And the salty taste becomes irritating after a while. I took the sticky glass in my hand and patiently warmed it up. The flavour marginally improved, but didn’t lift into top quality. A decent ale, never-the-less. [3.2]
Dec, 2005.<a href=http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/18/181 Welling.First impression - lots of sweet malt, lots of alcohol, sweet. Then the hops sneak through the crusty sugar, adding a dark edge, but that intense sweetness keeps asserting itself. There’s good stuff in here - the sugar dipped raisins and chocolate dipped plums, but the whole is so dominated by the sweet, sweet, drippingly sweet, oozingly sweet, walking knee deep in sugar sweet malt, and then by the boom, boom, boom, look at my oily biceps alcohol, that I didn’t enjoy this as much as I hoped I would. [3.0]

Tried this at the Last Post, Paisley (JDW) in December 2007. Cask, handpump dispense. Dark ruby red in colour with a thick creamy buff head - has the appearance of Sarah Hughes Ruby Red Mild. Strong roast malt in the long intense aroma. Thick creamy mouthfeel and superb lacing throughout. Dark malts give a maltloaf base with strong mocha coffee, rich Belgian chocolate, sweet molasses and strong fruit notes of overipe plums. Hardly any note of hop resins in the aftertaste as malt returns in the smooth vinous finish with creamy vanilla and oak cask flavours. This is a superb Strong Ale and worth seeking out, highly recommended.

Cask, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, Oadby. Very dark brown with a beige head. Aromas are very vinous with burnt toast and toffee with black currants and strawberry. Molasses with bready cookie dough. Flavours are fruity and sweet with dry and spicy red wine notes. Viscous with a warming palate. A proper winter brew.

Cask at JDW Holloway. Dark red brown with bubbly off white head. Aroma yeast, very fruity, bit of pear, quite vinous. Taste is sweet, raspberry jam. Medium bodied with sweet finish. Nice.

Cask, The Francis Newton, Sheffield. Dark almost opaque brown hazelnut. Raisin and brown sugar aroma. Sweet with caramel and fruit, prune and Xmas spice coming through. Bright nutmeg finish.

Cask at Charlies Bar, Copenhagen. Amber/brown colored beer with a decent beige head. Chocolate aroma, some nuts, some toffee. Flavor from chocolate and fruits, toffee and again some nutty notes.

Cask (handpump) @ Charlies Bar, Pilestraede 33, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Clear dark brown amber color with a small to average, fizzy, good lacing, mostly lasting, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, caramel, light roasted and nutty, spices - fruity notes ! Flavor is moderate sweet and bitter with a long duration, caramel, malty, sweet, nutty. Body is medium, texture is oily - sticky and smooth, carbonation is soft to flat. [20110114]

Cask @ The Wharf, Aalborg. Clear dark red brown with an off-white head. Aroma is sweet, malty, caramel and dried fruit. Flavor is medium sweet and moderate bitter. Smooth and soft finish. 251210

Cask. Brown with small beige head. Flavour is malt, nuts, caramel, roasted malts, spices and hops.

Cask. Pours a clear orangey brown with a rough beige head. The nose has roast and dark dried fruit. Medium body, Port-like sweetness, prunes and raisin with a touch of roast. Decently hoppy finish. 190111

Nose is raisin, sweet malt, late sweet licorice, feels medium, carb is weak, taste is weak alcohol, sweet tar, late cooked vegetables.