A shorter version of this review was first published in BEER August 2008 as part of a piece about beers for summer outdoor drinking. For more summer beers, see previous post.
ABV: 4.2%
Origin: Downton, Wiltshire, England
Website: www.hopback.co.uk
Hop Back Brewery
From this Wiltshire micro’s well distributed portfolio of bottle conditioned beers comes this wheat beer brewed to drink with Thai food, launched in 1999. Two spices common in Thai cuisine, lemongrass and coriander, are added to a grist of Optic pale malt, wheat malt, East Kent Goldings and Pioneer hops.
It’s golden with a thick white head and a fizzy, fruity, hoppy and lightly citric wheaty and yeasty aroma. The crisp palate has developing orangey fruit and spicy coriander, with bitter, twiggy flavours emerging. A dry, slightly herby, lightly bitter finish has vanilla notes. It’s a light, rather understated beer, oddly reminiscent of Kölsch but rather harsher and obviously more herby, and a good choice for spicy food.
More summer drinking beers in next post.
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/hop-back-taiphoon/12464/
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