Wychwood Hobgoblin (Pasteurised)

Has a nice deep ruby color, and it would be absolutely gorgeous if it had any head at all. I’m not really sure where people are getting this "full flavored" idea from...it doesn’t really have a lot of it. The flavor that does come through is very malty and very clean, and although it doesn’t have a really strong presence, it doesn’t taste watery at all....just very mild. It’s like dark beer for people who don’t like dark beer.

Bottle, Tesco. Dark copper with abundant rosy cream head. Dark bread aroma, soft chocolate a bit of the smell of having been outdoors. A nice warm sort of smell. Very soft caramel, lightly sweet, a mix of gentle roast and restrained hop bitterness play around the edges. Subtle, pleasant beer. A surprise.

Chocolatey, smooth, full flavoured. Great colour, very balanced - a distinctive ruby red ale. Apparently doesn’t travel well judging from this pageful of ’meh’ reviews from the US, as insipid it isn’t. I like this one anyway.

Pours a dark cloudy copper color with an off-white head that quickly vanishes. Aroma of malts, some fruit, and hops. Taste is a mild blend of roasted malts, fruit, and just a bit of bitterness from hops. A bit weak in character

Pours a dark copper brown with a tan bubbly head. Aroma is roasty. Tastes of roasted malt slight bitterness to the finish.

Bubbly chestnut brown with thin speckled white head. Funky old boot aroma with sweet malty undertone. Taste is same, with a pleasant tinge of hop bitterness. Better than the average british beer. $2/12oz

Bottle sampled on 11/1/06: Pours a transparent dark copper with a thin, frothy tan head. Slightly toasty earthy caramel malty aroma has some English hoppiness. Body starts slightly toasty and sweeter turning somewhat more bitter toward a blander finish. Not very interesting and pretty standard for an ESB.

Quick rerate: I had a fresh bottle of this from the UK and it was much better, sweeter with a crisp hoppy character and a smooth very drinkable finish. A very nice ESB.

Blah! What a sad attempt to make an English Ale. I am very disappointed. You get some of the toffee notes, with a slight ashy taste, but it seems as if the brewers gave up half way through the process. The color isn’t that dark coffee color I was hoping for. I had a feeling this beer wasn’t going to be good, what a waste of time. This is probably for people who feel that true English ale is too heavy or thick. Not a robust flavor at all. A very thin beer. This beer was not creamy, and has consistency of water. Come on Tony Blair do something about this!