Goblin vs Goblin

I used to drink quite a bit of Hobgoblin back in my days drinking in the Three Horseshoes just down the road, most of the time because it was the only decent thing on though. But that point still remains, it was usually the only decent thing on. I think it's a very enjoyable dark ruby ale on cask, and tonight I have the pleasure of sampling some bottled Goblin. (I received quite a bit for Christmas) I'm making the evening a little more special though, as a good friend Dave, passed me on a bottle of King Goblin to try for the first time.

Regular Hobgoblin comes across with it's classic clear ruby brown appearance and rocky white foam. At 5.2% it's a little stronger than your typical English Brown/Ruby ale, but that surely works in it's (my) favour. Really appealing caramel malt aroma, with some brown sugar sweetness. Really easy drinking, a beer you could sit and neck back all day. Very smooth, a hint of chocolate malt mixed with caramel sweetness and a refreshing citrus bitterness in the finish.

King Goblin looks and smells like a very different beast. A Special Reserve that's "Only brewed on a full moon". It has a fantastic aroma of fresh clementines and sweet candy sugar. At 6.6% it's no push-over and there's quite a few elements to the brew. It's a sweet beer, a slight candy sugar and caramel malt really comes though in the body, but it's much smoother with so much more to it than regular Hobgoblin. I'm getting a slight essence of a sort of horse-blanket mustiness which adds too the complexity of the beer. A little green apple skin and a lot of proper English hop bitterness to the finish of this different and instantly classic beer.

It's a interesting face off, Hobgoblin has that nice full malty body with a bitter citrus finish, and King Goblin has a big sweet body with a nice boozy, rather drying and moorish, finish. My thanks go out to Dave for passing me along the beer, and I hope you enjoy the Porter I exchanged for the King.

Of course I wouldn't be Ghost Drinker if I didn't do something a little crazy with the beers. So with the thinking that these two beers both had their separate elements; what would they possibly taste like together?!?! So with that thought in mind and a third of each beer left I decided to pour them into the same glass for funsies!

Did the blend work?

Hellz yeah!! The two different qualities of these beers compliment each other perfectly! If I was Wychwood I'd bottle this, but that's just me. You have a beer that starts big and sweet with a caramel toffee malt body, and ends up with a pleasant, moorish, slightly bitter body.

Why do I do these things? I've no idea. I'm having fun with beer though, and at the end of the day, Isn't beer meant to be about fun?