Invite a Hobgoblin into your home this Halloween (Wychwood Hobgoblin)

Member Name: skybluecat

Product:	Wychwood Hobgoblin
Date:	25/10/09 (41 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Smooth, malty and delicious, with a lovely deep red colour

Disadvantages: Nasty hangover if overindulged

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 will also apply to the bottled and draught versions, except that they are even more pleasant for NOT being from a can (as you'd generally expect!) and that the strength is different - but I'll get into that a bit later on....

===Packaging===

The dark blue can is illustrated with a picture of the 'Hobgoblin' - a rather sinister-looking fellow, armed with what appears of be an axe and a quiver of arrows, and a banner informing us that this is a 'Traditionally Crafted Legendary Ruby Beer' which has been brewed since 1983.

===Appearance===

This beer is REALLY nice to look at! At first it appears very dark, but if you hold it against the light you'll notice a rich deep red colour - presumably where the 'ruby beer' description comes from. It has a fairly dense head when first poured, but this soon all but disappears.

===Taste and general enjoyment===

Hobgoblin has a distinctive taste, but is still very easy to drink (well, I think so anyway!) and would probably serve as a good introduction to ales for someone who'd never really drunk them before. It is made with roasted chocolate and crystal malts and, personally, I can really taste the delicious malt flavour coming through very strongly. In my opinion (I'm not an expert beer taster - although I have tasted a lot of beers! - so I can only tell you what I notice!) it's not overly 'hoppy', which is great for me as I'm not keen on extreme hoppiness in a beer. If 'hoppiness' is even a word? Anyway, the hops used are English Fuggles and Syrian Goldings hops, for those of you know need to know these things. According to the blurb on the can, these add, respectively a 'crisp, refreshing bitterness' (yep, but certainly not overbearingly so) and 'a dash of citrus aromas' (I definitely noticed these, and they help to make the beer nice and refreshing as well as extremely tasty.

===Strength===

The canned version I sampled at the weekend is pretty strong at 5.2% alcohol, so not really one for drinking huge volumes of in a single evening. Not that I'd advise that anyway, as this is a fairly heavy beer and packs one heck of a punch in terms of a nasty hangover if you overindulge. I'd say this is one to be savoured slowly, as a treat, rather than one to drink all night.

I believe the bottled ale is also 5.2%, but the cask ale is a more restrained 4.5% - still probably not one for an all-nighter though!

===Price and Value for money===

We got our pack of four cans from Morrisons for £4, although I think this might have been on a special offer. You can get a 500 ml bottle for around £1.69, but again it's worth looking out for offers on bottled ales - most supermarkets do them from time to time and you can get a selection of, for example, four ales for £5.00.

===Summary===

Hobgoblin is a full-flavoured but smooth ale, which goes down very easily indeed. I've always thought of it as a 'Halloween' beer, and certainly it's better suited to drinking in the autumn and winter than in warmer months - a comforting pint, you might say....

But BEWARE....it is rather strong, and if you overindulge the Hobgoblin will ensure that you live to regret it!

Summary: A delicious, full-bodied but smooth malty ale which looks good too.