Twisted Spire
Hobsons Brewery

April 2013: 500 ml clear bottle, from Vaaland, Bryne. ABV is 3.6%. Very pale golden colour, moderate white head. Typical clear bottle "skunky" and Heineken-like aroma. Sharpish hoppy bitterness throughout, but little hop flavour besides the bitterness. No body to support the bitterness. Not a very nice beer, the poorest I’ve had from Hobsons so far. Won’t buy again.

Bottle. Clear gold with a thin bubbly head.
Floral hops and light caramel malt when smelt.
Taste as per aroma with a bitter end.
Middling carbonation. Light body.
Standard English blonde beer.

500ml clear glass bottle. Very pale, blond ale. Sweet floral aroma. Lots of honeysuckle flavour. Smooth and lightly chewy with moderate carbonation. All the classic characteristics of an English golden ale. Highly drinkable, super refreshing, low bitterness, low ABV.

A crisp pale amber body with decent pure white head

quite a pleasant little trip on the nose brewers mash moving onto lemon curd

A very pleasant drinking experience avoiding the sweet notes on the nose staring with citrus elements and then bitterness warming through

Good mouthfeel and nicely carbonated

A really enjoyable ale that is slightly different and well worth trying

 

bb131113 ap: very pale, minimum on the srm scale. Bubbles rising, no head. ar: lemon and grass. ta: faint lemon and grass, low bitterness, sweetness low without being dry. mo: light body, thin texture. ov: pils type beer. Low on flavour and bitterness.

Corn silk blonde with lots of fizz and rocky steady white shaving cream froth that rings. Lager-ish nose: toasted grain and grassy hops.
More toast, some lean sour grain, a bit of peach and then serious lemon rind and nettle hops. Citrus oil comes out as it warms.
Lemon sorbet comeback and bone dry, astringent linger. Light, crispy, very dry, metallic.

Dec '11 expiration date and clear glass means this may not be at it's best - there's a touch of skunk that's not unpleasant but may not belong.

Aggressive hops in a low gravity beer should rings bells for me. But this is so pared back as to be harsh; bitter over flavor with barely any balancing sweetness (maybe not enough steeping grains for body, maybe over attenuated).

Not half as refreshing as it should be.

Another left-of-center brew from Hobsons.

Clear 500ml bottle, best before 25 Oct 2010, drank as my first beer on returning from Las Vegas (I needed a simple English beer to wind down with) 15 May 2010.

Poured into my new Abbot Ale glass mug. Classed by the brewery as a 'Vibrant Blonde Ale', I've slotted it into the English Pale Ale.

Light blonde body with a large white head which soon fell away to a wisp and collar, looked fine, it would have been a bright golden blonde if the sun had been out.

Wheat and hints of honey and summer gardens make up the aromas, pleasant more than powerful or pronounced.

Refreshingly dry from the first sip, crisp and sharp. A citrus semi-sour aftertaste (pink grapefruit?) with a hop bitterness that overturns the floral/honey thoughts which the smell indicates towards.

An ideal beer to bring me back to earth after all those American over hopped/over priced/over cooled beers I've had over the last two weeks. The 3.6% ABV didn't take anything away from this well crafted ale, impressed.