Written by While looking back at my reviews for The Brew Club, I noticed that the only Hook Norton brew I’ve reviewed is their Double Stout, which I reviewed back in April 2010; I have omitted their flagship brew ‘Old Hooky’ something I will address as soon as I can get hold of a couple of bottles.
Anyway, as part of my exploration of Golden Ales I decided to try ‘Hooky Gold, Hook Norton’s entrant into the Golden Ale stakes. This is the first Hook Norton brew to feature American hops (Williamette from Oregon) and promises a ‘noble hop aroma’.
Hmm… we shall see.
It pours a bright summer gold, with a crisp white foaming head, all very promising, yes there are some citrus and floral hop notes in the nose, but overall the nose is a little disappointing.
Maybe my nose has been blasted by all those IPA varieties recently!
The flavour is crisp and hoppy, it’s refreshingly dry, not too bitter, ideal for a warm day and would provide an ideal (and not too challenging) alternative to a lager, which is, I guess what Golden Ales are all about.
Using The Brew Club’s rating system I’d give Hooky Gold three stars “Something that does what it sets out to, I’d be happy to drink it again.”, but after due consideration, there are other Golden Ales I’d put on my shelf first.
Rating: 
Bob the Brit
I’ve been a fan of Hooky’s bitter for a while now, picking up a bottle or two (at $5 a pop) whenever I get out to one area beer importer. But I didn’t really see the point in a Brittish Golden brewed with American Hops. Perhaps it’s my Americentric beer view (Is that a word?) but what I look for in breweries like Hook Norton is the classic English and european styles…
However as I put myself in your shoes, it does make sense that the Euro breweries would want to jump on the global craft beer explosion and experiment a bit too. They probably have been for a while, but those of us across the pond almost never hear of it. So in that respect it’s kind of refreshing to hear a Brit’s point of view of a classic English brewery trying out some of these American hops.
An interesting observation @Wolfman. I’m not alone in enjoying the exploration of Golden Ales, as you’ll see from this article here Golden Ales are providing an introduction to ales for lager drinkers looking for a bit more flavour.
And with brews like Kipling, Japiur and Golden Hen, there are some excellent brews to be found.