Cook Lane
Hogshead Brewery

Dark amber color, no visible carbonation; thin yet creamy off-off-white head; excellent sticky, lasting rings of foam. Rich, malty nose with fat, fruity esters. Otstanding malty flavor; toasted grains with a hint of sweet apple and pear; mild and pleasant hop bitterness. Medium body; smooth and densely silky.

This is an incredible rendition of a class English style ale. Well-balanced, easy drinkidrinking and immensely enjoyable.

english pale type, they call it best bitter at the spot i believe, served on cask, which is what these guys do best, and it was awesome to visit here and work a pint over after many years away, they have such a good thing going, so authentic. this is excellent beer, mellow and drinkable is the name of the game, lots of malt depth, good and somewhat distinctive hop balance, classic english fermentation profile, warms up well, an easy beer to sit with for an afternoon. brassy and high shine even without immaculate clarity, settling to an inch of creamy white cask head, just a total looker in a nonic pint. the nose is understated, as it often is in these, grassy old world hops with subtle tea-like character, a good amount of malt with some astringency, light brown sugar, wet soil, and copper or tin minerality, on point for the style, very mild. the flavor is the same elements just turned up a bit, english malts doing their thing, deeply earthy, a touch sweet but not in a limiting way, pleasant palate richness to this and some quickening later, the hops have modest bitterness and some light cannabis character, but this is a balance malt forward brew thats super traditional, and the cask conditioning is predictably perfect here. soft carbonation, pillowy and fuller feeling even with the light astringency, smooth and long, iconic even. hard to believe this is american beer, very true to style. bravo.

 

This is called a strong pale ale, but it was almost more of an ESB to me. I enjoyed it even though I don't typically go for strong ESBs. I think the cask version mellowed it out a bit, which was a good thing for me. I liked this one more than I thought I would.

Pours a translucent copper-gold with two fingers of dense white foam. Aroma is bready, biscuity, wafery malts with a little grassy hops beyond. Light and tight. Flavor profile is bready, biscuity, wafery, nutty malts with grassy and a sliver of citrus hops behind. Malt forward, with some hop-pop at the back. Mouth feel is medium in thickness with a real creamy texture. Overall, splendid cask ale with a pop of hop, but a focus on malts.

Draft. Cask.