Fullers Hock

Brewed by Fullers
Style: Mild Ale
London, England

Cask @ Bishops Arms, Malmö. Pours a dark brown color with a small off-white head. Has a roasted malty smooth chocolate and caramel aroma. Roasted malty chocolate flavor with hints of caramel. Has a smooth roasted malty caramel finish.

A Mes rate. Gravicask at London Drinker.
Mahogany brown with no head at all. Faint malty stuff all round. Very dull indeed. A little caramel and a dull bitterness in the finish are about all it can muster. Boring as hell. I can see why they don’t bother with this very often.

Cask. At Royal Oak, Borough. Guest tap - the barman saw me taking notes and really, REALLY encouraged me to try this. Clear deep copper pour, with a mottled creamy tan head - looks nice. Dry, leafy aroma, cocoa and light roast caramel. The taste was very weak - I let it warm up a long time, but nothing really emerged - vague chocolate and what almost seemed like watered-down maple syrup. I know it’s a mild, but this was too mild - weak body, hardly any roast, thin mouthfeel, it finished very quick and dry. On the positive side, you could drink about a gallon of this - if you wanted to - and not feel it much.

(Cask at Royal Oak, Borough, London, 15 Apr 2009) Very dark brown colour with brief, beige head. Roasted, malty nose with dark chocolate and coffee. Malty, roasted taste with notes of coffee and chocolate. Mild bitterness with dry coffee hints. Fairly thin body. Nice and tasty mild.

Cask on the guest pump at the Royal Oak, Borough, 31st March 09. Very dark brown, near black. Dark malt aroma but with a little coffee bitterness. Soft palate. A nice typical mild.

I first tried this beer back in the late 70s when it was still a regular Fullers brand. To their credit, Fullers have revived it for limited periods on more than a few occasions unlike the Young’s equivelent Best Malt Ale which vanished almost 30 years ago. Some of the Hock revivals have been very decent, but the last reincarnation, IMO was caramel and very little else. I first encountered the latest batch at the recent London Drinker beer fest and to be honest was not too impressed. I tried it a few days later at the Euston Flyer and it was impressed how much better it tasted. However the Hock that I drank a skin full of at the Wheatsheaf at Ealing Broadway a few days later was stunning. Dark brown/ruby black with a lively off white head. A complex beer for it’s low gravity with subtle roasted malt, a hint of caramel and restrained but evident fresh english hop content. An amazing session beer by any standards.

Cask @ London Drinker 25: A great looking beer. Very, very dark red/brown with an excellent mousse of beige head. Deep cereal aromas with the slightest hint of chocolate. Very dusty. Sweet fruits (raisin) meld with very dusty and airy cereals to create something robust and moreish. I really think this has the perfect balance of weight and drinkability. A heady and very tasty ale that punches well above its weight.

Hand pulled half pint, in a pub near the Barbican. Deep brown colour, small tan head. Wet blanket, momed grass with maltyness. Very light in the mouth, tending towards watery. An ok mild.