The Caskaway

Hobgoblin Beers – An Ale Tale worthy of the Bard. Do you like Shakespeare? His plays are full of history, fabulous characters, mystery, mayhem and more than one magical wood. Well today’s tasting notes are for beers that have a story worthy of the bard. Even the name of the beer may have come from Robin Goodfellow or Puck, the mischievous sprite at the heart of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Otherwise known as a Kobold, brownie, or dobby, this knavish mythological creature is a hobgoblin.

Ask any beer fan of a certain age about Hobgoblin beer and the Wychwood Brewery and their eyes will glaze over. Their influence was huge. Today we think of BrewDog as an industry disrupter but the team behind Hobgoblin built a business selling over 100,000 thousand barrels a year. Throw in iconic branding and merchandising, full page ads in Penthouse and selling as far afield as America and Japan and the Hobgoblin team had been there years before. And the parallels don’t end there. Each business built up a chain of bars which sadly collapsed before both brands ended up controlled by much larger corporations.

A little Hobgoblin History

Founded in 1983, the story of Hobgoblin really takes off in 1990 when Ian Rogers and Chris Moss took control of a small brewery situated in a former maltings in Witney, Oxfordshire. The brewery was then renamed Wychwood, after a nearby woodland, a site of special interest, full of local legend and folklore. The beer was named after one of the mythical inhabitants of the forest.

The Early Years

Due to changes in legislation, it had become easier for smaller independent brewers to gain access to the pubs then in the hands of the big six integrated brewers, that controlled the UK market. Demand for Hobgoblin range of cask ales took off but the next move cemented the company’s reputation. They became the first brewery to add a picture to the bottle label and embossed the lettering in gold foil to stand out on the shelves.

Within a year the bottles were on the shelves of every major supermarket and the company began to look at other markets exporting to the US, Canada and Japan. The duo launched a pub chain starting in Staines which became wildly popular with students. The group bought venues in Reading, Brighton and Bath and three in Bristol. By 2000 the group had a £30 million turnover and the city investor 3i was a large minority shareholder.

Hobgoblin Today

However, the company’s success stalled and eventually it was broken up with the sale of the pubs and the brewery. The pub purchaser went bankrupt and the new brewery owner Refresh Group owned a portfolio that included Manns Brown Ale and Brakspear. A number of transactions followed as the new owner sold off the cider and alcopop brands and entered partnerships with a number of other businesses including brewing Duchy Originals Organic Ale.

Eventually Refresh itself was sold to the acquisitive Marstons Plc to add to its growing portfolio. At the time it was said there was no intention to close the Wychwood brewery. In 2020 Marstons merged its brewing interests with the brewing giant Carlsberg and sadly in November 2023 took the decision to close the operation with the loss of six jobs. Production of the Hobgoblin beers has moved to Marston’s Burton-on-Trent brewery.

If you fancy learning more about the rise and fall of Wychwood Brewery and Hobgoblin beers I thoroughly recommend this article in Pellicle magazine.

Hobgoblin Triple Tasting Notes

Carlsberg continue to offer a range of Hobgoblin beers available as cask ales, kegged bright beer or bottled and canned. I tried three different bottled beers for this triple tasting. The beers are not bottle conditioned.

Hobgoblin Gold

A light golden colour when poured, bottled Hobgoblin Gold is lightly carbonated with aromas of lemon, lime, and gooseberries. There is a lightly baked biscuity flavour, with citrus notes and a light bitterness to the finish. Think lager beer with a wedge of lime. The finish is clean and balanced. If you like lighter style beers this is the choice for you. Try it out with a curry or some fried fish or seafood.

Hobgoblin Session IPA

Pale yellow Hobgoblin Session IPA is a modern style IPA with lots of hoppy floral and tropical and citrus fruit aromas, think mango, passionfruit and lime from the five different new world hops. It is lightly sparkling and packed full of flavours of grapefruit and a hint of orange zest. The refreshing finish has a pleasant level of bitterness and would be great well chilled and drunk sat out in the summer sunshine. The relatively low alcohol level is means it is great for a garden party or lazy afternoon BBQ drink.

Hobgoblin Ruby

Hobgoblin Ruby is a beautiful dark red colour when poured. The traditional blend of malt and hops gives this beer delicious toffee and chocolate aromas. It tastes of toffee and fruit cake with hints of dried figs and dates balanced by slightly earthy notes from the hops. This is a smooth, full-bodied English ruby ale and is one of the beer styles that originally made Wychwood’s name. The bottled version is slightly stronger than the cask and I would pair it with a full-bodied game casserole or a piece of fruit cake and some crumbly Lancashire cheese.

Bottled Hobgoblin Beers Summary

Style	Gold	IPA	Ruby
Flavour	Fragrant citrus aromas and flavours with a mouth watering, refreshing finish	Fresh and zesty with hoppy citrus and tropical fruit flavours	Chocolate aromas with toffee and sweet biscuit flavours
Food Pairing	Fried seafood like calamari	Thai style green chicken curry	A sticky toffee pudding or chocolate dessert
Country of Origin	UK	UK	UK
Malts	Barley and wheat	Barley and wheat	Pale, Crystal and Chocolate
Yeast	Not disclosed	Not disclosed	Not disclosed
Hops	Pilgrim, Citra, Summit and Nelson Sauvin	Cascade, Ella, Citra, Galaxy and Topaz	Fuggles, Styrian and Goldings
Alcohol	4.2%	3.4%	5.0%
Suitable for	Not suitable for vegetarians or vegans	Not suitable for vegetarians or vegans	Not suitable for vegetarians or vegans
Location	At home, St. Helier, Jersey	At home, St. Helier, Jersey	At home, St. Helier, Jersey

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