Wychwood Brewery

As I was strolling through Wegman's I walked through their beer display as I always do, I just can't seem to help myself. It is set up in the last two aisles of the store and even if I have no other items to get from that end of the store, I always seem to end up in those two aisles. Even as I walk towards thoses aisles I can feel myself being filled with anticipation, what will I find this time? Will it be something new that no one I know has tried and I can be the pioneer to taste it first? and so on and so forth.

When I finally get to the beer display I find myself lost in thought and as I stand there and look like a monkey doing a math problem, people make there selections and squeeze past me. I find that I like to look at the labels and the artwork first, is it eyecatching? does it look interesting or hokey/gimmicky?, then after finding a few good labels I pull a bottle out of the six pack and read the description that some marketing guru dreamed up. Does it sound interesting and draw me in or can I read through the bullshit and see that the flowery over the top jargon is just trying to hide an average non-descript beer. After all of that, if I still am intrigued I'll buy a bottle or a six pack and bring it back home to give it a shot.

Which brings me to Wynchwood Brewery. I ended up buying two 500 ml bottles of their beer and these are my impressions.

First I thought that the labels were pretty original as well as the brew names. Although I think goblins are a little hokey, (Sorry Captain Insano and all of you other Syfy freaks), the labels were well drawn and very creative. Also, when I read the back of the bottles for a description, the write up was written by the head brewer, Jeremy Moss. I give them big props for that. I like when I can see what the brewer thinks about the beer and describes it in his own words. One other interesting note, that I didn't see when I bought them was that Wychwood is from "across the pond" and brewed in Oxfordshire, England.

Fiddler's Elbow

  

Fiddler's Elbow was very refreshing and very light. Its color was a little darker than I had expected, but the beer was still very light. It had aromas of earth and wood from the Styrian hops. It was smooth and lacked a little complexity until it finishes with a strong citrus and hop flavor. Overall, it was an ok beer, it would go great with a back yard bbq where you wanted a light refreshing beer that wouldn't fill you up. I would probably purchase it again for that type of occasion or if I wanted to break in a group of domestic (a.k.a Budsweiser, Miller, etc) drinkers to the craft beer scene.

Hobgoblin-Dark English Ale

Now Hobgoblin was a good beer. It was dark in color, with reddish highlights through out it. It had clean fruity aroma that may have been figs, I'm not real sure, my palate needs a little more work. It was full bodied with notes of chocolate that wasn't overpowering. There were hints of toffee as well and the some bitterness from the darker malts. It had a nice clean finish that left you wanting another sip. Overall, it was a well balanced full beer, it had enough malt and bitterness to carry the hops but neither of them whacked you in the face. I would definitely buy this again.

Based on my tastings, I would definitely buy the Hobgoblin again and put it in my rotation as a regular beer that I drink. As for Fiddler's Elbow, it was good, but I wouldn't run out to buy more unless I had the situations I stated above in its review.

Grab a pint and Enjoy!!

Naps