Hook Norton

Today the snow was falling. Hard. Fletty’s scotchy/chili fest cancelled. Buses not running. Drifts up to my waist, and enough snow piled up in the back that only a two-foot run of my back fence is still visible. So what to do? Get some work done. Make pizza dough. Drink beer.

That's my grill under there.

I picked up a couple of Hook Norton’s beers at Ale Jail, and I’ve been meaning to try them.  It’s an Oxfordshire brewery I’ve heard a lot about, but I’ve never had the opportunity to try the beers before, and I’ve never seen them around here.

• Hooky Bitter (bottle, 3.6%)  Beautiful "juicy" orange hop aroma.  Hint of sweet malt.  Medium copper color with a slight haze (bottle conditioned; I kicked up some of the yeast sediment.)  Low head.  Aroma is great, quite a lot like Fuller's actually.  Mouthfeel is also great: light, very easy to drink.  Backed up by clean malt flavors -- slightly dry/toasty malt with a touch of caramel-like sweetness.  Then bracing hop bitterness which carries through to the finish. The hop is much more in the aroma and bitterness than flavor, though some orange and grassy-hay like notes come through.  Wish I knew what the hops were here -- Challenger and first gold maybe? 

• Hooky Gold (bottle, 4.2%)  Light in color -- golden, with a fluffy white head.  Same orangey/juicy aroma with a touch of caramel-sweetness.  They say they've included American hops, and this one does have a touch more of tangerine-like character.  Not grapefruit or pine though.  The hop aroma is really up front.  It's a quenching beer, with soft, fat malt in the first sip, and then drying and bitter in the finish.  Hop flavor is much more pronounced in this beer.  Some fruity esters, but most of the fruitiness is coming from the hops.  Orange/tangerine in the flavor as well.   (No it's not the suggestion from the oranges on the table, try it and you'll see.)  Top notch, this is a great beer.  It has something of the same hop character as Mirror Pond from Deschutes.  Maybe it's Cascades they've layered in?  Lovely.  Will have to remember to drink more of this and try to come up with a clone recipe if I can...