Hook Norton Old Hooky (Bottle)

Dark brown colored, little light brown head. Aroma has obvious black currant with licorice, sweetness and chocolate. Interesting and not very usual aroma for ESB. Medium bodied. Flavor is strongly fruity with licorice and some sourness, aftertaste lasts with fruits, currant and bitterness.

Sweet hop malt aroma. Clear red amber colour with great head and lacing. Bitter malt hop flavour. Smooth palate.

Aroma: light fruity hop notes with a good balance of crystal malt. Apperance: clear amber with a lightly tan head made from large bubbles but quite stable. Flavour: immediatly bitter followed by a bit of passionfruit and malt. Palate: medium mouthfeel and lightly carbonated. Finishes with a lot of hop bitterness.

500ml bottle. Pours a ruby red. Lifeless, oversweet caramely best bitter. Doesn’t feel at all fresh. Poor.

A beer it seems I’ve waited my entire life to taste and to be quite honest there’s been plenty of others along the way that top it. Into an English pint, cool but not cold. Looks good, with a big, bubbly, oily-looking pad of white that raised a good ½" from the brim and lasts there to snow over the entire glass. The beer itself a finely carbed, bright golden copper. Lowly toffee and caramel nose with just a touch of orange marmalade. Similar in the mouth with just a little more character that managed ’balance’ with varying degrees of success. Toffee and sweet, ripe oranges upfront, with a flat mid-palate that shows traces of ground-nuts and fades into a region of grassy, spicy and herbal hops that single themself out and manage to single-handedly mar the swallow. Slightly oily in mouthfeel, medium bodied and a little cloying flavour-wise, with the aftertaste showing more grass, herbs and nutty malts that linger long between swallows. Its quite heavy for a filtered, pasteurised beer and I don’t think it pulls off what others have succeeded in, come the bottled bitter market. Not altogether integrated, I hope this one taste better on lees as I plan to visit the brewhouse in a week or two on my visit to the Cotswalds. Average, yet oddly unique tasting bitter. (50cL, 28/10/06, Jandakot Liquor)

Bottle, 500ml. An amber colour with an average lasting head. Aromas of cirtus, malt and blackberry. Quite sweet taste with hints of caramel and dark fruits. A slightly malty, fruity finish. Full bodied, somewhat syrupy. Average carbonation. Disappointing.

Finally I found Hook Norton and I must say it was a little disappointing. I think the trip fom the Old Dart hasn’t done it any favours. Whilst the beer is still well before the Best Before it really does seem quite subdued. Little on the nose, a slight hint of medium crystal.Hop presence barley there. The palate is harsh and hollow with little length which is a shame as I was expecting a really malty mid palate. Nice bittering to finish.

Pours with a thin tan head and an unclear amberorange body. Aroma is mild with a sweet toffee note. The flavor is malty and hoppy with a creamy tone and a vague bitterness in the finish. Not an outstanding beer but nice and easy and good if you are in the mood for it which I was!