Hobgoblin IPA

Rating:

“There are IPA’s and there are legendary IPAs. Ours is legendary. Pale golden with orange glints this beer is forged from the finest British hops and varieties gathered from the far-flung shores of the pacific. Prepare for an intense tropical explosion of zesty oranges, grapefruit, honey and juicy bitterness. Winner of the World’s best IPA award. Like we said, Legendary.”

Glassware: English pint.

Appearance: Bold amber pour with a dense and frothy two finger crown. Excellent retention and a smattering of lace decorates the glass on its way down.

Aroma: Bursting with traditional English IPA qualities i.e fruit forward but still harnessing the toasty malt, spice and tangy orange/marmalade that we love so much about this style. Just the right amount of floral perfume and freshly baked bread at the core of it all. A delicate sweetness rounds it all out. Kind of juicy too, we’ve just realised. They call this beer legendary and we see why.

Flavour: Certainly continuing on with the lifted fruity notes – ruby grapefruit, candied orange and lychee/guava. The juiciness comes into play here too. Not in the sense of reconstituted juice but almost. The great thing about it is that it doesn’t get cloying, although it gets quite artificially sweet but the masterful use of toasty and bready/crusty malt along with the bitterness assures the balance of it all anyway.

Mouthfeel: Smooth, slick texture, slightly spritzy Co2. Medium body. The 5% ABV, although low, is right where it should be for a traditional English IPA.

Overall: Another one of those beers that we couldn’t believe we hadn’t reviewed yet. It has been a return-to beer for us for years and deservedly so. It’s a corker.