Wychwood Hobgoblin

I do like Wychwood’s Hobgoblin.  It’s a deep ruby red colour with a creamy head that quickly melts away until it is just thick enough to cover the surface of the beer .  It smells of toffee and those tones are carried through to the flavour with added hints of chocolate and dried fruit.  This 5.2% ABV ale would stand up well to roast beef or venison, or a hearty meat pie.  Unfortunately it’s likely to be the last Wychwood ale that I review for a while as I need to restock!  Definitely not for the faint-hearted!

 

Wychwood Wychcraft

Wychcraft claims to be a blonde beer, and reinforces my expectation of something quite continental by adding ‘Biere Blonde’.  So it’s a little darker in colour than I had expected, but still a crystal clear light amber colour, with a head that dissipates quickly.  The flavour is light and refreshing, with hints of toffee and butter.  This is a beer that would go down well on  a warm summer’s day with a ploughman’s lunch.  Not the most characterful of Wychwood’s ales.  For the record, the ABV is 4.5%.

 

Wychwood Goliath

Wychwood Goliath is a copper-coloured bitter with an ABV of 4.2%, and a head that definitely lasts well.  It has a light nose smelling slightly of toast and ginger, and I really like honest, and slightly old-fashioned taste of a bitter that endures well, before coming to a slightly sweeter finish.  This is not a beer that pretends to be something that it’s not, and I could quite happily drink this all evening!

 

Wychwood Bah Humbug

Bah Humbug comes in a bottle with the kind of design that I’ve come to expect from Wychwood Brewery:  a slightly sinister looking Scrooge occupying the majority of the label.  This beer is a great start to Christmas:   a beautiful amber colour with a head that dissipates quickly and a nose that has more than a little of the mince pie about it!  That sense of a liquid mince pie is carried through onto the tongue where the initial fruitiness of raisins and sultanas quickly gives way to spiciness from the added cinnamon.  For the record, the beer is 5.0% ABV.  Highly recommended.

 

Wychwood Scarecrow

Tonight’s ale is Wychwood’s Scarecrow, which claims to be a 4.7% ABV organic golden pale ale. The first thing to notice about this beer is the light golden colour with a head that lasts for more than a few minutes. The smell is slightly hoppy, and the flavour is complex and works on a number of levels: initially the taste is creamy and fresh – almost vanilla – before giving way to a much stronger bitter flavour that endures. I’m definitely looking forward to the rest of the box that this ale came from.

 

Wychwood King Goblin

Tonight, I’m roasting a nice piece of gammon for dinner. And I make no apologies whatsoever for matching it up with this bottle of King Goblin. The rich and smooth first impression is followed by a treacley, almost molasses-like after-taste that is just right fotr the sweet-cured joint. I almost think that this ale competes with the best of the Belgian strong beers such as Trappist and Duvel.

 

Wychwood Hobgoblin

If I’m going to be driven to drink by others’ lack of any sense of duty and responsibility, it might as well be something good. This is great, and a great accompaniment to my homemade chili. Just wish that I had more than one bottle…