Thursday, August 24, 2006

Pint Night 08/24/06 Hobgoblin


Pint night, August 24 2006 Hobgoblin Strong Dark Ale
Description from www.wychwood.co.uk:
"a deliciously dark, full-bodied and rich 'chocolate' malted brew"
The Legendary Hobgoblin Strong Dark Ale

Hobgoblin – Tasting Note
5.2% ABV 500ml bottle and can, 5.0% ABV in cask

Hobgoblin is a powerful full-bodied copper red, well-balanced brew. Strong in roasted malt with a moderate hoppy bitterness and slight fruity character that lasts through to the end.

Head Brewer, Jeremy Moss, has produced a full chocolate malt flavour beer by the addition of a small proportion of crystal malt and the use of Fuggles hops blended with Styrian Goldings hops. The ruby red coloured Hobgoblin is full-bodied and has a delicious chocolate toffee malt flavour balanced with a rounded moderate bitterness and an overall fruity character.

The Hogoblin legend
It was in a shadowy corner of the old maltings in Witney that the first gurgle was heard: a delicious, dark, rich ale pouring from the cask.

A local landlord had commissioned a special brew to celebrate his daughter's wedding. Our founder, the late Chris Moss, God rest his soul, created the ale of his life - a dark, rich, and mysterious brew. What to call it though? Too much was brewed for the wedding, so a firkin of our still nameless beer was sold to a local grog shop. It went down so well, more was called for the very next day.

Chris dutifully delivered another firkin, and was stopped aghast in his tracks. What sight beheld him? A drawing of a Hobgoblin and the name had magically appeared on the beer. Was it the wanderer of the night? Was mischief afoot? Perhaps, under his gaze, a lay artist serving at the counter was so charmed with the ale, he'd been compelled to depict the character of the brew in a drawing.

From that day hence, customers would ask for The "Hobgoblin" beer, and the legendary ale was born.

Beware The Hobgoblin . . . He may work his magic on you . . .
"What's The Matter Lagerboy, afraid you might taste something?"

2 comments:

AsianSteev said...

Certain words come to mind when remembering this pint night.
Those words are "best pint night ever."
The distributer for Hobgoblin Ale here in the states showed up in a big truck which resembled a pub on wheels. Nothing gets you stoked about a beer more than cool, cheap merchandise. Hobgoblin posters with slogan "What's the matter Laggerboy? Afraid you might taste something?," cast iron bottle openers, carved tap handles... before I even tasted the beer, I was raving about it.
The beer? A dark, almost black ale, minimal head. It was smooth with a lot of 'brown' woody flavor. Full bodied with a slight metallic aftertaste. A good beer, served at cellar temperature. The taste isn't overpowering, and has you coming back for more after each drink.
The full experience earns Hobgoblin Ale a big 8. It was a good damn time. If the beer had to stand on it's own, I'd may say 7, but you can't deny a good time.
I've got a pint glass with a goblin on it afterall.

Dr. C said...

I agree with Steve that this was the "best pint night ever", at least the entire experience was. As I entered Pazzo's, I noticed the big truck outside, but just didn't really think about what it might be for. We came to find out that it did indeed have merchandise that we could buy. And boy did we. Pretty much everyone bought at least one thing and it just juiced us up for the beer. The beer was very dark, but wasn't really bitter like some dark beers are. Again, like Steve said, it had a woody flavor with a slight metallic aftertaste. It was very tasty, but it sits kind of heavy on your stomach. So like some dark beers, it's like a meal, although it wasn't as thick as others. I give this a beer a rating of a Sipper. This shall refer to beers that are very tasty, but difficult to get drunk on because they fill you up. It's a kind of beer that you want to enjoy as you drink it.