Hook Norton Old Hooky (Bottle)

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

Bottled. Dark red / brown in colour with a beige head. The aroma is malty and a bit on the dry side. The flavour is smooth and malty.

sweet malty aroma, pours with a deep copper hue and large frothy head, there is a good amount of lacework, nice malty taste complemented by dry hoppy notes, quite complex and refreshing

[500ml bottle from Asda, High Wycombe] Pours deep amber with medium beige head. Faint but prickly carbonation. Big, sweet malt aroma. Taste also of rich, sweet malt, with some wood, caramel and toffee. Unfortunately metallics from the pasteurisation come through at times, although not as badly as in some beers. Finish is a bit sweet and sticky for my liking. The bottle is OK, but I would like to try the cask version.

Bottled. Copper-brown color, dissipating head. Delicate aroma hops in the foreground (spicy, floral). Bready, toffeeish malt. Very well balanced and quaffable. Cheers to Capital Brewery for importing this and other traditional UK brews.

For me, beer can hardly get better than this. This is a beautiful reddish copper with a huge, light tan head that slowly shrinks to a thin permanent top and nice lacing. The smell, very English, is wonderful It has toasted bread, leaves and tea, spices, caramel, grain, hay, stewed apples, fresh fruit, dried fruit,and nuts. The flavour is complex and exciting but restrained. It hasa lot of leaves and tea, nuts, caramelized dried fruit, juice, toasted bread and grain, hints of citrus and nuts, black pepper, and red wine. The finish is hoppy, crisp and clean, yet long and complex.

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.

Pours a golden reddish color. Small head dissipated quickly. Aroma is very faint, fruity and a bit tart. Flavor is again very fruity and tart, with some sweet honey notes in the finish. Medium bodied and fruity from start to end. This is a nice tradition ale and very fruity for the style, so good for summer

Bottled. The best way I can describe this is interesting. Slightly vinous taste, with a number of other flavors circling in the background. I'll have to try this again to see if I can pick anything more specific out the next time.