Hobgoblin by the Wychwood Brewery is a beautiful looking beer in the glass, pours a dark ruby red with a thin white head. Aroma is dominated by fruity English hops with a sweet malt backbone. There is also a nice hint of caramel that comes through on the nose. Mouthfeel is a little dissapointing, although clean the beer is quite thin, I certainly would not agree with the bottles description of this beer being "full bodied". Hints of chocolate and caramel on the palate with a relatively strong bitter bite on the end. The fruity hop characteristics are very subdued by the malt profile and as it warms up it has a slightly tinny aftertaste (when I was younger and one of my mates drank Smithwicks, I used to refer to this taste as like 'dirty two-pences').Hobgblin is not a great beer in my opinion, light and refreshing but nothing that would make me reach for a second bottle. This is really dissapointing as aesthetically this beer looked great in the glass.
Should you wish to try and brew this beer at home there is some good ingredients information on the Wychwood website:
Malts: Pale, Crystal and Chocolate
Hops: Fuggles and Styrians
