Wychwood Goliath

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

Pours a foamy off white head and has a slightly dull dark copper appearance. Lacing is good. Mild grainy and bready malt aromas with spiced hops. Has earthy and herbal type hop flavours, somewhat sweet and has a slight bitterness. Notes of toffee and nuts as well. Pretty faint citrus notes. Mouthfeel is full bodied with fairly weak carbonation but has a nice mouthwarming sensation. Not too bad, easy drinking but not the best from Wychwood.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

500 ml capped bottle. Poured in an English tulip pint glass an unfiltered hazy mid-brown coloured Bitter with a generous one finger beige foamy head that had a very long retention and tons of micro bubbles. Soft carbonation. Some lacing. The aroma is slight toasted malts, light fruity tones, apples, citrus. The flavour is grainy caramel malts, bready, biscuits, faint dried fruits, walnuts and a light hoppy bitterness. The mouthfeel is quite thin even watery. This light bodied Bitter has a dry slight bitter finish. An easy drinkable and refreshing Bitter.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

500ml spazzy bottle with glitzy hype graphics....wondered if this was a Hobbit drink. Poured a hazy amber ale in the glass. Decadent off white 2 finger cap lasts and laces. Aroma is demure - light malt and earthy tones. Flavor was there. Big dose of Crystal malts in front balanced well with eathy fuggles .... Styrian Goldings take over halfway to the finish giving a lightly bitter but fluid finish. Not a bad bitter - full flavored but suffers from Wychwood’s notorious weak mouth feel and dilute body.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

Comes in a brown bottle at the LCBO and written on front label... "The beer to slay a mighty thirst". Alright sailor... let's do this ! Pours a slightly hazy amber colour with a big creamy off-white head that has great retention and thick lacing. Just a few tiny bubbles for carbonation. Not much smell at first, but then, lots of hay and biscuit malt appears, with notes of fruits. Very smooth and silky mouthfeel, with hardly any carbonation. Feels like an English cask brew. Watery taste with hints of caramel, hops, grain and fruits. Not a bad session beer at 4.2% ABV... kind of slaying away at my thirst.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 6

September 14, 2011
LCBO Outlet #255 (Milton, Ontario, Canada – Main / Bronte)
500ml bottle
4.2% ABV
$3.50
The beer poured a translucent medium golden-red colour with a thin off-white head that quickly dissipated into a ring. The aroma was slight skunk, weak grainy malt, and some floral hoppy hints. The mouthfeel was medium bodied with medium carbonation. The flavour was very grainy and acidic, not at all good.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

660 ml clear bottle, courtesy of Cardinal pub, Stavanger. ABV is 4.2%. Deep golden colour, large to moderate lasting head. Moderate but pleasant hoppy aroma (Styrian Goldings), hints of toffee. Decent hops, toffee, walnuts and some fruity sweetness in the flavour. Moderate hops in the finish, I’d like some more "bite" there. Mouthfeel is maybe a bit thin? A drinkable beer, but not "big" enough in any way to deserve the name "Goliath".

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

Dark orange colour, mediumsized beige head. Skunky nose with hints of fruit and hops. Weak bitterish flavour with hints of caramel and malt. Watery palate, dry mouthfeel.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

This one is huge in package only, as it really is a muted ale, not an ESB in the least. It's closer to a pumped up lager really. Hazy orange color, my bottle had floating bits of yeast all over. Skunky aroma upon opening, it poured with a white head with quick dissipation. I thought this was a beer that you could drink all night and not get drunk or full. Mininal in the hops department, strong in the malts this one is pretty good. I might not buy again, but I wasn't dissapointed.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

While I said that I more-or-less swore off this brewery after my first two beers from this brewery (e.g. Fiddler's Elbow and Scarecrow Ale), this beer caught my eye at the store today. Same big, clear 660mL (?) bottle as the rest of the Wychwood beers I've tried, which automatically set of alarms in my book (especially since the liquor store cooler is awfully bright and all-too-well lit).

This "Fear Of The Skunk" was partially reinforced when I first popped the bottle open, and hints of skunk filled the air. "Great: yet another Wychwood brew I have to slam", I said to myself.

But after the first pour and my first sip, the outlook was much improved, IMO. Not skunky..., not skunky at all, actually. In fact, the aroma was not unappealing at all.

As the head of foam settled, a nice even layer remained -- along with some basic lacing, too.

The nice quaffablility of this beer highlights the fact that flavor profile is rather interesting. Very "British" in execution (start-to-finish), with hints of dried fruit in the backend that almost always comes from the use of rather esoteric yeast strains vice actual pulped fruit in the mash. Nicely bitter, that reminds me of (rare) fresh samples of Bass off the tap. A little dry in mouthfeel, but not enough to be annoying or anything.

I certianly went into this beer with more than a few pre-conceived notions and assumptions -- namely, that this beer would be similar to the other Wychwood brews I've had, and more-or-less suck ass. But the reality is that I enjoyed this beer, and could contemplate getting it again.
//TB

Aroma: 4 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 5

This review is from notes previously taken. Thanks to ap for sharing this one. This is a session beer. It pours a hazy amber color. The flavor is mild with a slight taste of hops.