Hook Norton Old Hooky (Bottle)

Brewed by Hook Norton
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Hook Norton, Oxfordshire, England

Bottle. Warm copper with a modest cap of light tan foam. Taught dried apricots, floral, a touch of yeasty bread. a seamless blend of leathery dried fruit and a slightly chewy breadiness. Dry initially--just a touch of lingering sweetness. To my tastes, this seems like a session strength version of a great English-style barleywine that embodies a lot of the interest of the stronger style, while remaining quite delicate and drinkable. Medium to light palate, but full of flavor and interest. The yeast character of this beer is really interesting. I’d love to try homebrewing with this strain. Having now tried Old Hookey cask and bottle, I like the bottle better. (Heresy, I know.)

Perfumey, dusty hop aroma. Malt is very bready, with a lightly sweet, bitter finish. Balance is tipped toward hop bitterness.

A sentimental favourite. Half a lifetime ago, this was my buddy’s regular pint when he and I worked just across the county border in Gloucestershire. We were inseparable for many years until jobs and broken relationships drove us to different parts of the globe. I drifted to Australia while he fell for another woman and destroyed his world for her - wife, kids, friends all gone... His parents didn’t talk to him for two years. Nothing was ever the same. I saw him a few years ago for the first time since his personal cataclysm and he carried heavy scars. The beer: bottled bitters are inevitably pale reflections of the cask versions, but this is better than most. It looks great - lucid copper with a tall wash of suds painting the glass. The aroma is corrupted by pasteurisation but retains some of the cask’s ripe fruitiness. Otherwise it shows boiled sweets, Ginger Nut biscuits and port. Nice soft mouthfeel, moderate carbonation. Lots of crystal malt toffee notes and nuts balanced by red apple esters and a long bitter finish. To Rossco, wherever you are, may your pint glass always be full, old friend. (500ml bottle from Purvis Cellars, Melbourne)

Bottled. Dazzling amber, frothy head, real touch of thornton’s special toffee to it, caramel with a hint of fruit and a little hoppy roughness in the finish. Bit much on a warm night but still a damn fine beer.

Very tasty. Nice rich amber colour with creamy off-white head - like omhper says, makes a change to the flat watery stuff i’ve been accustomed to here. Flowery aromas. A light, nutty, buttery body. Big herbal hop flavours mingle with rich fruity flavours (mango, pawpaw?) and it all finishes with strong, fat bitterness. Apologies for the paucity of verbs in this review - internet cafes are expensive here

Bottle. Pours golden amber with a off-white/yellow head. Dryish hoppy aroma with sweetish malty notes. Sweetish malty flavour with notes of hops. Fruity notes develops as it warms. Bitter finish with a sourish touch and dry notes. Slight notes of apple. A bit thin. Slightly oily palate. 30-11-06.

(0,5l bottle) Pours with a huge white head. Looks strangly close to a dunkelweiss! Great aroma. Grapefruit, rhubarb, toffee. Taste a bit... old? Fruity but dusty. A beer of high quality, but not really in my f(l)avour.

Bottle. Amber with small head. Malt, nut, pine, grpaefruit, bitter. Nice palte.