Cumbrian Five Hop
Hawkshead Brewery /

On tap at Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. Hazy deep golden to orange colour, low white head. Lovely and intense aroma of tropical fruits, also some citrus. The flavour is mid between sweet and dry, tropical fruits and citrus again, pine needles and resin in the medium bitter finish.

From a 330ml bottle.
L: Slightly hazy, pale amber colour. The one-finger of white head collapses quickly but leaves rings and arcs of lacing. Fine looking.
S: Some fruit, then heavy resin and spice, finishes raw cookie dough. Good stuff. Only complaint is that one sniff and it's gone. Takes a couple of minutes to reform.
T: Not as strong flavoured as I was expecting. Biscuity & spicy. Kind of dank. Nothing special.
F: Medium/light body, slightly gassy, some chewiness, dry finish.
O: Disappointing. The hops fight each other such that no single characteristic shines through. A muddle of citrus, pine, spice & grass. Not at all unpleasant but certainly not worth £2.79 a bottle. A rare miss from an outstanding brewery.

 

 

 

On cask at 'spoons in Glasgow (5% abv as per earlier review). Gold coloured beer with a fresh minty, oily hop nose. There is a little sweetness but this is hop dominated with mint and onion to the fore. Excellent.

A 330ml bottle with a best before date of May 2016 and poured into a pint glass.

Appearance: The beer poured a hazy golden orangey colour with a thin weak white head that leaves some stringy lacing.

Aroma: Fruity aromas, starts with melon, pineapple, tangerine and orange with hints of caramel.

Taste: A little on the weak side when you consider the amount of fruit in the aroma. Biscuity caramel malt with some citrus mandarin and grapefruit. There are hints of mango, grass and pine with a long bitter finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with low to medium carbonation.

Overall: This was quite good especially the aroma but was hoping that there was more of a punch in the taste considering the nice aromas.

 

Served on cask via handpump at the Port Street bar Manchester
With the serving style it is unsurprisingly a good looking beer
Slightly muted aroma
Big flavour and solid body

500ml bottle served in a small tulip. [repeated June 2015]

Clear medium amber with a small, weak head.

A tad under-carbonated, medium-light body.

Sweet malts along with a mix of hops in the aroma.

English style PA in terms of limited hop flavor and bitterness, and earthy/herbal hops.

O: Well crafted if rather tame brew.

 

Cask at a Weatherspoons, well kept. The cask version is 5%

Hazy light amber pint, firm head that gives a full glass of lacing as you quickly polish off the pint. Aroma of fruits - peach, grapefruit with some caramel malt bobbing its head ever so quickly above the surface before the fruit smothers it. Taste follows on but with a tad more citrus and some honey flavours there, albeit light. The taste as with the aroma is hop forward . Quite light in the mouth and finishes reasonably dry with some lingering bitterness.

Well worth drinking again.

Amber-tinged gold with a layer of film.
Melon, gooseberries, floral nectar and some bread dough on the nose - sticky sweet.
Bit of caramel up front with Amarillo orange, Citra grapefruit peel, some spice (from Bramling Cross?) for hops plus a bit of an herbal, vegetal thing.
Spiced orange peel finish and long bitter linger.
Crisp, light to medium, some chew.

Nice interplay between all the hops (Fuggles and EKG in there, too). Not sure I get as much from the English ones, though it manages to be spicy more than citrussy. But proper hoppy all around.

 

A 330ml bottle with a BB of March 2013. Picked up from Trembling Madness in York a little while back. Five hop varieties from around the world are included in this brew; the label mentions that Fuggles, Citra and Amarillo are used.

Poured into a Delirium chalice. A clear orange-amber with medium carbonation. Forms a decent head of white foam that lasts for a minute or two before subsiding to a thin surface layer. Aroma of intense hoppy notes; grapefruit, citrus, pine and hints of grass and tropical fruit. Underpinned by caramel malt with a touch of sweetness, and a mild whiff of booze.

Tastes of aromatic hops with a strident bitter finish. Notes of grapefruit, citrus, pine, caramel malt, grass/hay and stewed hops. Slightly sweet. A powerful, dry bitterness upon swallowing. Mouthfeel is smooth, spicy and tingly, with reasonable body. The carbonation is somewhat lacklustre - could be more effervescent. Quite astringent, with an aftertaste of bitter aromatic hops.

Excellent - tons of hop character to savour. Loads of aroma and bitterness make this a hop lover's dream. The malt is subdued but well balanced. Perhaps this beer's biggest flaw is the lack of conditioning with live yeast - I'm certain that it would add depth. Nonetheless, this is superb. Grab one if you see it.