Goose Island Honkers Ale review

I decided to review a few beers from the Goose Island Sampler Pack I bought at the grocery store.

This is what many would call a session beer, and according to the Goose Island website, was inspired by visits to English pubs.

Even though these are called bitters, they are really just more bitter than the milds they used to compete with. These are similar to extra special bitters, but differ in several ways. Usually they are lower in alcohol (the Goose Island Honkers Ale is only 4.3% ABV), and usually a touch maltier than the average ESB. They can be more bitter, but most have more balance.

The beer is made with Super Styrian and Styrian Golding hops (which derive from British fuggle hops, despite the name goldings). This leads to less of a typical British earthy hop aroma and flavor.

They also use a little wheat and roasted barley along with 2 row malt and caramel. This is not really traditional, but explains the huge head retention from this beer and the color that is a little darker than I would expect for these beers.

Aroma

Hints of caramel and a very slight earthiness.

Appearance

Light amber and perfectly clear from filtering. Long lasting creamy off-white head.

Flavor

This beer starts with a caramel maltiness that slowly turns to a decidedly earthy hop flavor. The finish becomes more balanced and eventually some of the bitterness comes through in the back of the throat. The bitterness lingers for several minutes.

Mouthfeel

This is a dry beer, but has a creaminess from the huge foamy head. It is a medium mouthfeel and has some carbonic bite.

Overall

This is a good example of a British bitter and is definitely something you could drink as a session beer. This is not a bitter beer by any stretch, but like any good English bitter, it does tend to fall more to the hop flavor side with a lingering bitterness. I would drink this again, no problem.

Rating

40.00/50

Packaging

Bottle