Rolling Hitch
Darwin Brewery Ltd.

Thank to RobBeer for bringing this to Japan.

A - Transparent lager yellow body, with almost no head.
s - nice hoppy aroma
T - Easy drinkinging, mild malt. The lighty sweet malt balance perfectly with the hoppyness.
M - light body and light carbonation, but by no means wimpy.
D - This was refreshing, yet interesting, give me more.

Appearance: piss yellow (sorry, but it is), great clarity, narrow band of white foam that fairly quickly compacts to a thin cap

Aroma: light caramelly malts, honey, meringue, strawberries, floral hops

Flavor: mildly sweet maltiness upfront with an enveloping leafy hop flavor and a latent vegetal bitterness; hint of grapefruit rind; finishes semi-dry with a lingering fruity, honeyed aftertaste

Mouthfeel: fairly light body, mild carbonation, crisp but soft texture

Other comments: It's a nice, soft, flavorful English IPA.

Purchased again at the ASDA supermarket where I first found this beer last year. Somehow the label has been changed to a more mundane one, with white fonts of Rolling Hitch on a dark blue background, yet the back label states RateBeer and its web-link, for unknown reasons?! Anyway, BBE July 2007, served cool in a straight imperial-pint glass.

A: pours a dark golden hue, the loosely-formed beer head produces noisy hissing sound as it's poured, and disappears in no time later on; the carbonation is semi-lively, but full of huge bubbles ascending from the bottom. Looking quite weird...
S: an astringently metallic note maybe from the cap prevails upfront, not pleasant; after letting it soften a bit, the aroma of flowery hops and honey-drink reveals itself, on top of a moderate note of caramely malts and faintly tart citrus-fruitiness... but the metallic edge accompanies the aroma at each sniff and only weakens very slowly, hence dragging down the score somewhat.
T: sharply-bubbly in texture upfront, with lots of biscuity malts and nuttiness prevailing on the palate, followed closely by a pleasant flow of leafy-textured of hops that tastes sweet-flowery and slightly citric-fruity, turning dryish and bitter-sweet (malty) at the same time towards the moderate finish. Pleasant and aromatic aftertaste, though.
M&D: overly fizzy and sharp on the mouthfeel, impeding smooth sipping of this hoppy ale, while the body is thinner than I remember from my last bottle of this beer... There must be something wrong/different treatment with the new packaged beer somewhere in the bottling process or production, I believe, as this one underperformes as compared with my first encounter a year ago, and the mouthfeel/carbonation and metallic edge are the most crucial issues here.

A - Pours a clear copper with an inch of bubbly white head, which falls to a fingers worth. Looks to have high carbonation.

S - Citrus, honey, flowery/piney hops, a little caramel, ripe fruit.

T - Sweet malts quickly take on a citric edge before the oily/piney hops burst through. Has a lovely, long-lasting bitter finish with some more of the citrus, and invites you to take another sip.

M - Medium body with soft/medium carbonation. Crisp, refreshing and slightly oily.

D - Very drinkable. This is the first beer I've had from this brewery and I'll certainly be seeking more out. Good stuff.

Yet another rarity shared by Texashammer. Thanks Jules!

The nose of this clear, orange-copper brew is clean, crisp, with fresh brigh hups lurking underneath a mineral presence. Nice, if a bit too subdued for my tastes. Soft malt opens up on the palate, along with hop flavor then bitterness mid-palate, popping up again later on before fading rapidly. That characteristic English mineral note is also present. This soft, smooth, and easy EIPA may be on the mild side, but that's how they do things over there. I may be spoiled by brash American brews, but I can appreciate a well-made beer when I encounter one.