Hogs Back: TEA (England: Bitter: 4.2% ABV)
Visual: Chestnut to red. Small coffee cream coloured froth. Clear body with very little carbonation.
Nose: Liquorice. Cinnamon. Earthy hops. Toffee malt.
Body: Treacle. Cinnamon. Apple jam. Earthy hops. Toffee malt.
Finish: Earthy hops. Light bitterness. Tannins. Paprika. Light orange notes.
Conclusion: Ok. Important note one. This doesn’t taste of tea. Not that I think it was supposed to. The name is basically just an attempt to meme-jack British peoples brains to force them to buy it.
Nefarious, yes?
Thankfully it isn’t a bad beer. Otherwise it would be plain evil doing that. There is some of that earthy British hops, but they are used to back a quite sweet and fruity main body. It has quite a jelly and jam mix to it, with light apple and cinnamon in the just slightly thickened texture. The earthy hops are background that only become the main show in the restrained but bitter finish, underlining the experience. It is a good show of how to use earthy hops without them dominating the experience.
The fruit flavours are big enough that they are the foreground, and while not booming it is robust enough to take your time drinking – the good use of the malt means it seems more chewable than the texture should support.
It is like a cinnamon apple beer had while breathing in the air at a farm festival. Restrained, but not dull. Another example of the good use of intermingling that you get with traditional ale flavours compared to the sharper defined craft beer style.
A nicely fruity rustic ale, not special, but solid.
Background: Apparently Hogsback is a different brewery to Hogs Backs You learn something new every day. This beer’s name is an acronym for Traditional English Ale. Ha fucking ha ha. Anyway, this was another one of the beers that was a gift from my work colleague. Thank you very much. Drunk while listening to some of the chilled Spektrmodule music podcast. I actually don’t drink tea that often.
