Thanks Simon. Fruity malty nose. Dry bitter, grainy. Very bitter neutral with a grainy back. Crisp bitter, a bit watery, sessionable with a bitter finish.

Bottle from Moonshire and Fuggles, Ironbridge. Clear golden colour with a white head. Aroma and taste are light fruity and bold citrus. Medium body.

Bottle from Moonshire and Fuggles, Ironbridge. As Dhustone. Black colour with a tan head. Aroma and taste are roasted bitter and slight coffee. Medium body.

Bottle from Moonshire and Fuggles, ironbridge. Clear golden colour with a white head. Aroma and taste zesty and crisp citrus lemon. Slight dry. Light body.

Pale gold with a frothy, white head. Aroma is floral and grassy with a bit of dough and lemon peel. Taste is mildly bitter. Faintly tart undertones at the finish that stay just underneath. Lightish body, crisp, clean finish. Pleasant.

Bottled. Amber colour, small foamy white head, which stays for a while. Aroma is floral, wooden, some bready and mild caramel malts. Flavour has the same elements as the aroma, but also some slight toasted and biscuity notes to it.

20/8/2023. Bottle shared by The Blackhaddock. Pours clear bright gold with a small frothy white head. Aroma of citrus, grapefruit, herb, straw, yeast, sweet stewed fruits. Moderate sweetness, medium developing bitterness. Moderate body, slightly watery, average carbonation. Nice long bitter finish improved it.

Hoppy pale ale by Hobsons in Shropshire southwest of Birmingham, apparently a one-off created for a local storytelling festival - many thanks to my girlfriend Goedele for bringing this bottle over from England, not by coincidence as her sister Veerle is indeed a professional storyteller. Medium thick, tooth-like lacing, egg-white, tiny-bubbled, partially breaking but generally stable head; crystal clear warm yellow-golden robe with thin strings of disparate sparkling rising up throughout the beer. Peculiar, notably herbaceous aroma of spicy rye bread (though containing wheat rather than rye), pine resin (Columbus!), lavender oil (very strong Lubelski hops indeed!), cheese spread, spruce tips, bee wax, raw quince, margarine, juniper berries, parsley, yellow grapefruit peel, tonic water, hints of freshly cut hogweed, unripe apricot, moist white pepper, thyme. Clean, dryish onset, some subdued fruitiness as in hard pear or unripe peach but hardly any sweetness at all, minerally carbonation (a bit stingy at first), slick and smooth, almost a bit buttery mouthfeel; slender white-bready and grainy malt backbone soon aromatized by very piney (Columbus) and dried lavender-like (Lubelski) hops, with further accents of parsley, raw parsnip, dried ginger and thyme completing the picture, providing a long, resinous bitterness which becomes a bit rooty in the end, yet manages to remain in balance with the 'raw' graininess of the malts. Feels like a piney version of a classic English style golden ale rather than an APA - but I guess the APA moniker, implying the use of New World hops, is broad enough to accommodate even this unusual interpretation. Both hop varieties are very outspoken and very clear here, exhibiting their respective features in a very pure and pronounced way, undisturbed by any malt or ester frivolity. Clean, ultimately simple but to the point and technically correct, quenching and pleasant to drink, but you will really have to like pine resin and lavender effects.