It’s been a while since the last post. Life, Children, The sale and purchase of a new house for the WK family have gotten in the way of drinking. Shame on me.
So whilst out buying some bread for the experiments I noticed something strange on the Co-Op shelves. A Hobgoblin drink with a ‘NEW TRY ME’ logo. A Hobgoblin IPA, surely not.
There was nothing else to do. I put the bread back and walked out with 3 bottles for £5. After all. Bread is just baked flour and yeast. This is science. It’s important to see what the strange people at Wychwood Brewery have concocted in their cauldron.
So what to make of the Hobgoblin IPA. The drink itself has a nice strong golden colour, just the right carbonation and a lasting thin head. It’s very flavoursome.
Wychwood make no effort to hide this. On the label it states that the drink is ‘Born out of character’ and they go on to use words like ‘heftily’ and ‘amped up’. This is so true and can be a blessing and a curse. After all not everyone will like the strong flavours this drink contains.
This is not a drink for the faint of heart.
Some people will be put off on first taste. I found it to be at first unbalanced, towards bitter but after a few sips things settled down. You get cloves, orange and other layers that come in the further down the bottle you get. The bitter edge never truly goes away but is overcome as you drink. The layers of flavour keep arriving and then you are hit by the alcohol and don’t care.
I’ve not been drinking much recently due to life and other priorities. So after 2 Bottles I can feel the drink hitting all the good spots. At 5.6% this is not a mild drink by any means. It comes with as strong a hit as it does flavour.
So do I recommend this drink? That’s really hard question to answer.
I love Wychwood Brewery drinks. They are priced correctly and are often my go to session beers. If I had the choice of the Hobgoblin IPA, the Hobgoblin GOLD or standard Hobgoblin I’d likely choose one of the latter.
Now that I’m three bottles in I’d love to have some more. This is always the way with Wychwood Brewery drinks. Thank heavens for spell checkers.
Rating 2.5/5
Source: Co-Op
Alcohol: 5.6%
Size: 500ml
Price: £1.66
Manufacturer: Wychwood