Hop Back Flint Knapper Ale

Formerly brewed at Hop Back
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Salisbury, England

Serve in English pint

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Cask Handpump at the Smithfield Hotel, Manchester 16/08/2003 Clear golden colour and very hoppy. Slightly bitter dry lasting malt finish.

First tasted this in the Bull Inn, Paisley in March 2000. Cask, handpump dispense. Clear gold in colour with a thin white head. Floral hops strong in the long aroma. Thin resiny mouthfeel and good lacing. Pale malt base gives a digestive biscuit note with citric fruit notes of lime cordial. Hop resins present in a metallic aftertaste long in intensity. Finish is dry and astringent with hop resins still present. A standard bitter by my tastes.

Cask conditioned at a Wetherspoons. Gold with white head. Pretty standard bitter, a little dry but a bit of a non entity, light maltiness, quite dull.

Pours clear golden colour with a small quickly-vanishing head. Dryish, hoppy aroma is dominating the taste, also malts, notes of herbs and citrus. Moderately bitter.

Erm, smoother but not exactly too quality. Some spices detectable. Wouldn’t go for it again. Hamilton Hall, Liverpool St., London.

This beer has made a reappearance for the J D Wetherspoons May festival at 4.6% (the previous version, which was previously rated on the site was 3.8%). Not sure whether this is a one-off or a more permanent restoration. A golden beer with lively carbonation (for a cask beer). The aroma was rather dull (compared with the B & T Two Brewers that I sampled immediately before), more in the style of a normal bitter than the appearance would suggest. I suspect the hops are mainly traditional English varieties because there’s something a bit dusty going on. Definite grassy notes in the flavour, but the underlying is pale malt. Fairly juicy, but quite dry. Certainly not an exuberant brew. The overall effect is mellow and a touch soft. Falls somewhere between a golden ale and a traditional bitter and doesn’t quite succeed as either. Nice enough though. Cask (handpump), Penderels Oak (JDW), Holborn, London.

Cask, Black Bull, Cockermouth. Golden color with a hint of copper. Nice hoparoma. Hoppy, just a bit citric, creamy flavor. Fairly thin. Some caramel and just a hint of oak.