Miasmatic Review

It's a goblin.

Last week at the store I saw a beer not only had I never had, but I had never heard of before. Of course this meant I must purchase one in order to sample it. I had placed it in the refrigerator to cool and promptly forgot about it. That is until today. I was supposed to have the power company come out so my electrician could do the last bit on the electrical. They where supposed to disconnect the power to the house so he could work on the external hook up before the city inspector comes. Originally ComEd was supposed to be here on Monday, they didn't show, so the electrician rescheduled for today, and again they didn't show. Sigh. I was rather frustrated and decided I needed something to drink, meaning water, not alcohol.

Once I opened the fridge I saw my bottle of Wychwood Hobgoblin Dark English Ale. I figured this would be as good of time as any to try it out.

According to the label it's a "Full bodied & well balanced with a chocolate toffee malt flavour, moderate bitterness & a distinctive fruity character with a ruby red glow" ~Jeremy Moss, Head Brewer.

It didn't take me long to realize this is a type of beer that I just don't like. It's not that it's bad; it's just got a bit of a flavor I don't care for. First off, it does have a slight fruity flavor that lingers on the tongue. Towards the end of the beer it does tend to be more malty, but not badly so. This is one of those beers that I think tastes better slightly warm as opposed to chilled. The aftertaste can be strong, but it doesn't last too long. If you don't like bitter beers stay away from this one, it's not overly bitter in my opinion, but it did have a bitter bite to it. Maybe it's because it's English, but I swear it really had a toffee flavor to it. I know the label says it does, but so do many others. This one however made me want to go get a Heath bar.

About now one of my few English readers that like this beer is about to blow a gasket and throw out the typical insult of, "Americans just don't have the sophisticated taste for European beer." Nah, that's not true. I like a lot of European beers. This, however, is not one of them. Again, it's not a horrible beer. It's just not the type of beer I like.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd rate this beer about a four.