Wychwood Hobgoblin

What were you doing back in 1983? Anything interesting? Well, one chap in deepest, darkest Witney (somewhere in Oxfordshire I believe) was doing something very important indeed. He was setting up a one man brewing enterprise and producing eight barrels a week of his homebrew, then selling it to nearby residents. Why was this important you ask? Well, it turned out that this particular homebrew was really rather good, indeed so good that the reputation of this little business grew and demand for his ale soared - until twenty years later we now have the Wychwood Brewery turning out 30,000 barrels of varying fermented beverages annually. And not just that insipid lager ...  Read the complete review

I'm quite partial to a pint of ale once in a while, and I thought today I'd share a few words with you on the subject of a cheeky little number called Hobgoblin, brewed by the Wychwood Brewery in Witney, Oxfordshire. I've sampled this beer on a fair few occasions in the past: at beer festivals, on draught in pubs (when I've been lucky enough to find it), in bottles and, more recently in cans. My most recent experience with Hobgoblin - on Friday evening, as it happens - was from a can (actually, from a glass, but you know what I mean!), so I'll be focusing on the canned variety for the purposes of this review. Basically though, much of what I say about it ...  Read the complete review

Here I am STILL retracing old steps and reviewing some classic beers. This one is a strong beer that is well worthy of a review. In fact, I’m not sure why I haven’t written about it already! Today I am sampling Hobgoblin and, although I have tried it both bottled and on draught, I will be reviewing the draught version. ~~~~THE BREWERY. Brewing has taken place at Eagle Maltings (the name of the Wychwood Brewery) since the 1830s, but the Wychwood name dates from 1983. The brewery is based in Witney, Oxfordshire. Since 2002, Wychwood also brew beers that were previously produced by the now closed Brakspear Brewery. Wychwood is also now part of ...  Read the complete review

I have recently really become fascinated with the wide range of beers available and can be found in the beer aisle of Asda umming and aahing and working out which one I should go for. This was me on Saturday afternoon. I eventually went for Hobgoblin strong dark ale from the Wyhwood brewery I had to buy it for three reasons. The first was the name. Hobgoblin is such a nice mysterious name for a beer. I imagine this being served in The Shire to Frodo and co or in other fantasy realms. Secondly I was enchanted with the bottle?s label. It has a rather mischievous little man with arrows and a sword. Perhaps the Hobgoblin is not such a nice creature after all. The third ...  Read the complete review

I've been drinking hobgoblin for just under 5 years now. I have had it from draught, bottle and can. Draught is by far superior, followed by the bottle and then the canned. Bottled and canned hobgoblin is 5.2%, whereas draught is 4.5% (it was 5% previously, but it was changed to 4.5% as apparently it sells better). At my local pub, a pint of draught costs £2.60, which is quite expensive, but I think that it's worth it as it's a quality British product. Bottles are about £1.50 from Sainsbury's but if you buy multipacks you can get a better deal. At first glance freshly poured draught hobgoblin may be mistaken for Guinness. It has a deep ...  Read the complete review