Oakham Haka

Brewed by Oakham
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Peterborough, England

Serve in English pint, Shaker

Thanet Easter Beer Fest. The Winter Gardens, Margate. Mmmmm. Exotic fruit hit going into a dusty finish. Sweet malt. Light and delightful.

Cask at The Hop Pole pubs Easter Beer Festival, Aylesbury in the company of Loz, Chris O, Ruth, Barry, Lynn 21-03-08 This had the most stunning hop nose it really was that just rubbing hops between forefinger and thumb type smell, fantastic. Mid gold in colour, with slight haze and a small white bubbly head. Sweetened grapefruit in the mouth, marmalade wonderful bitter juiciness, what a lovely beer.

UPDATED: DEC 6, 2010 Just when you thought the last beer tasted like NZ Chardonnay...here’s the Haka (is that some eggchasing NZ reference, btw, because its lost on me). Been after this for a while. Beaten gold, dissipating white foam. Ridiculous stewed Darjeeling, blackcurrant and breakfast juice aroma. And flavour for that matter, where the delicate hop pungency is cushioned (slightly) by cashew, cream and malted milk biscuit notes. Really lush green, tropical hops with a warming meatiness. Honeyed mouthfeel, mouth-drying with hops. Oakham are becoming a must-drink brewery for me and my favourite brewery in England (and thus The World) for the simple reason they brew nothing that isn’t awash with hops, and slightly balanced. I mean Struise, Mikkeller, BrewDog are good but they sometimes brew indifferent stuff...Oakham just keep ticking my boxes time after time, and pump a quantity of hop into even a modest ’golden ale’ like this that rivals some US DIPAs. Top brew.

Cask handpump at The Wellington, Birmingham. Golden with a good head. Watery with a slightly flowery-chemical scent. Slightly carbonated, very bitter and very dry. In the mouth: excellent. Flowery, hoppy with some sugar in the back.

Cask at blackfriars Glasgow ... Crisp golden yellow ... sharp tart american hop nose ... full on sweet piney american hop ... packed full of flavour and wonderfully balanced. A great UK cask ale.

Gravity, Far From The Madding Crowd. Yellow gold, just a little haze (which I think is kind of pretty) lovely dense white cap of foam. Lychee and mandarin orange aroma. A fresh spring sort of smell. Fine textured cinnamon/citrus hops in a modest bitterness/high flavor proportion. Light, dry finishing. Refreshing, unusual, very good!

A Mes rate: Gravicask at Planet Thanet 2008.
Semi cloudy gold with a slim white head. Big grassy and aromatic, almost oily hoppage are the story of the day. A great combination of sharp US and some UK hops with big fruity citric notes. Typically lovely Oakham mouthfeel. Bloody bloody good.

Cask, Peterborough Fest 07. Golden with a small head. Aromas are floral with grapefruit and hay. Some biscuit. Flavours are caramel malts with bitter grapefruit. Spicy and hoppy with loads of citrus. A stronger JHB, which is a good thing.