Holgate Double Trouble

Just when you think you've tried all of Holgate's beers .. they pull you back in.

This one's a Dubbel by designation - admittedly a fair bit less complex than a lot of true Belgian efforts - but easy drinking, chewy and flavoursome. I get a lot of chocolate in this but melded with caramel / toffee and just a faint edge of rum. Add in a complex malty nose and a nice balanced, meshed character from a bit of time in the bottle and you've got a pleasant beer indeed.

I only noticed it was 8% deep into the bottle. Say what you like about it being an 'abbey ale', but I think it best to judge it on what it is than what it isn't. Great work again, grab a bottle and check it out even if you're not generally a Belgian beer freak.  8.0

Holgate Hopinator

A warm welcome to what is the most blog evasive beer on the record so far if you don't count the dark age lager days. This beer's actually been tried and tested a number of times previously, but somehow managed to elude photography each time.

Makes sense then that this seems highly unphotogenic when finally caught on camera - you'll have to take my word that the above seems quite distorted from the usually much more pleasant looking reality.

This beer usually generates quite a lovely head, and appears a light amber in colour. It's sedate and settled in the glass, looks comfortable in aeration. It sits on the transparent side of the spectrum, consistent with the relatively low for a DIPA 7.0% payload.

Head gives off quite fruity, juicy hops, and floral notes. Mouth .. bitter up front, eases into a distinctly sweet middle range body, then a lingering low background bitterness.

For a DIPA this is definitely on the light side, but nevertheless delivers good bitterness up front tempered with that earthy, almost marijuana-like hop character, green and grassy, pretty pleasant. Good drinking. 7.5

Holgate Mt Macedon Ale

Sometimes you have the beer for an occasion and not the food, or vice versa.

Happily, matched tentatively with home cooked yakiniku complete with the spicy miso and lettuce leaves, this proved a very good fit and alas evaporated quickly when shared with the wife.

The initial pour here is almost oily, quite heavy and inert for the style, producing a low head and deep amber colour. Not bad, but at this stage not really building any high expectations.

The aroma is where that starts to happen - nice APA strains, fruity, on the sweet side but bitterness also foretold and proclaimed. Yum.

It's immediately clear upon tasting that inspiration here has been hung drawn and quartered from the Little Creatures Pale Ale school of beering, but it's another thing entirely to execute, and this beer delivers an impressively balanced and massively drinkable drop that ticks all the right boxes for this style. Deep lasting malt with nuts and caramel support a spicy, bitter bite of lasting hops, very refreshing stuff. My immediate thoughts are a strong lament I can't buy this by the carton. Top stuff. 8.0

Holgate Gruit Expectations

Well well, another first for the blog with this a gruitbier made with a combination of spices and no, ie zero, hops. Not to mention a lovely terrible pun-led name.

For those that are still with us and haven't raged out immediately at the mere mention of a seemingly hopless crusade, we can see that appearance wise at least all seems to be in order. Indeed it produces a big furling crazy head that is enthusiastic beyond expectations above quite a clear body.

Cinnamon, and other spices with a bit of a peppery edge are evident from a distance once you have this lined up and it is of course these spices that dominate the flavours as well, producing an experience kind of like a highly spiced winter ale but without the roasty caramel malt background these commonly boast in reserve.

It's more barklike and mosslike and put me in mind of other dank words like coven, and cauldron. Interesting and drinkable if not as refreshing or rewarding as a bracing brace of hops. 6.0

Holgate ESB

Onward to another performance from the horned ones at Holgate - this time the Extra Special Bitter.

This one arrives with little aplomb, failing to generate any head enthusiasm at all. These are never frothy gushers, but slightly disappointing nevertheless.

Aroma-wise there is a bit of roast, and actually a fair kick of hops going on on the nose, slightly unusually for the style. First impressions on drinking are that it feels a bit light in the mouth really for an ESB, perhaps not quite deep enough. But in saying that theres a pleasant amount of real taste going here, caramel, fruity hops, pineapple etc all present.

Progressing through the glass was quite pleasant, but I couldn't shake the feeling this beer is a little lost between two styles of a traditional bitter, and something almost akin to an IPA in some ways (without the berserk) due to the volume of english hops they have clearly stacked into this one. It's not a bad approach by any means but for mine but the beer needs more sweet burnt caramel to be a truly itch-scratchingly delicious bitter. 6.0

Holgate Pilsner

Sometimes, a light refreshing pilsner is just what you want - but so often the experience can be derailed by stray off notes that can counterintuitively make drinking this supposedly easy drinking style a bit of mission.

This example from Holgate stays with the tried and true Saaz Czech hops and pilsner malting with no evident additives. It pours beautifully and immediate impressions are it is a very light and crystal clear attempt with a snowy white cap that develops and persists atop string but not intrusive aeration.

Taste wise these beers are never going to write a novel, and while it seems odd to judge a beer on what it doesn't do, the fact this drop is so completely unoffensive is probably its single greatest asset.

It's a highly drinkable, faithful recreation of the style and to my palate, a far cleaner effort than many others on the market. CoughawardwinningTrumerPilscough. 6.5

Holgate Road Trip IPA

It's fair to say we were looking forward to this, given Holgate's past performance with the DIPA and Temptress.

This beer presents well if a little on the tame side for an IPA. The flavours speak about some things, but mostly about pineapple. And it's not all interesting.. after a sip or two you're suddenly learning how to plant it, typical germination patterns, and major world exporters. All of which is great, but it just gets a wee bit boring after a while.

Not bad. But I'd go with either of their other efforts above this in a heartbeat. Needs more everything. 7.0

Holgate Temptress Porter

People had recommended this one - and the one previous encounter (though fleeting) with a Holgate DIPA had turned out positively too.

Still: wow. Looks attractive. Smells attractive. And my word does it taste attractive.

This is brewed with cocoa and vanilla beans and it shows - very sweet milk chocolate flavours, vanilla edge in clear sight throughout and no real bitterness at all, but above and beyond that the beer has a lovely milky flavour and mouthfeel too that really improves it beyond the norm. It's funny that people find black beers so bewildering because this has to be the best beer for kids I have yet encountered.

If I had to find a downside it's that there's not too much character beyond these sweet notes - but then, there doesn't need to be. If you're in the mood for a coffee / roasty / hoppy / imperial porter, drink one of those. If you just want a sweet chocolate variety, you could go a lot worse than this fine effort.

The only puzzling thing is it suggesting it be enjoyed with either choc desserts (fully agree) or .. meat pies. Huh? 9.0