Hopping Hare
(has 2 batches)

Bottle, Tesco, Annfield Plain, Co Durham. Poured an insipid clear orangey gold with a thin white head. Fragrant aroma of stifled hop. Flavour was a sweet malt affair, quite floral with some fruitiness. Didn’t really pick up on the hop factor. Dryish finish. Palatable but nothing special.

[Rate 1: 500ml bottle from Sainsbury’s Reading. RB score 8/2/8/3/15 (3.6)] Looks like a cheap lager - gold, moderate white head, and lots of visible carbonation, although the fizz is actually about right in the mouthfeel. Smells light, floral and very fresh - very tempting. Tastes initially rather too bitter and hoppy for my liking, but this quickly lifts to reveal a delicate floral and melon flavour beer. With a good balance of bitterness and sweetness, this is light and refreshing, yet tasty and intriguing; the more I drank this beer, the more I liked it. [Rate 2: Bottle - gift from Maureen & Dave - cheers! RB score 6/2/7/3/13 (3.1)] Similar to before, definitely floral but with a more citrussy overtone and a hint of piss. Again, it grew on me the more I drank, but obviously not as much as last time. OK though. Site score is the average of all ratings.

Cask at the Old Manor (JDW), Bracknell. Straw with a thin white head; fruity aroma; creamy with citrus and tropical fruit flavours; gently bitter finish. Pleasant but unexciting.

Bottle. Pale gold with a big white head that left plenty of lacing. Caramel aroma with some grassy hops and apricots. The flavour was sweet, almost toffeeish, with a decent dry finish. Ok.

Straw to orange clear gold under a good fluffy off-white head. Discreet malts and just a hint at something that could well be hops. Bit dusty, that malt. Bitterish taste, which to me speaks of a dose of not-too-noble hops, high-yield aso. Rest is underlying sweetish-toasted malts, cornflakes-like. Quite watery MF, light body, aftertaste vaguely metallic and bubble gum. Rather mediocre beer. A bit more attention to the hops used might honour the name more.

Cask at GBBF 2006. A hazy orange beer with no head. The aroma is sweet malty with a light touch of fruit. The flavor is sweet with light notes of grapefruit juice - quite extraordinary for a beer - and not really me, but it makes it very refreshing.

500ml bottle - "Exclusive to Sainsburys" according to the collar. Gold with a frothy white head; grassy hop aroma; good hoppy flavour with some malt as well; and a dry finish. Very straightforward, and very good.

Bottle from Sainsburys, Kidlington. This poured a golden colour and had that usually quite impressive nose that Badger somehow seem to get out of a lot of their bottled beers though in nowhere near the same league as Golden Glory, or Champion, still it was quite hoppy and fresh in the aroma. The taste was a touch citric and hoppy again, some reasonable fruitiness and bitterness but overall it lacked just a touch, still another pretty decent effort from Badger.

Cask at GBBF 2006. Slight haze/gold, no head. Badger yeast citrus aroma. It’s a yeasty and ctruis beer with a bit of elderflower. Similar to their other beers. Fruit is quite juicy. It’s alright.

[Cask at GBBF] Lightly hazy golden. Fruity with light touch of ginger. Pleasantly sparkling light mouthfeel. Citric. Some light touchs of vegetables in the finish.