I just cracked a Hobgoblin English Dark Ale. The first thing that struck me about this beer is that it is almost certainly not a dark ale. Deep copper, but an acceptable color for an english pale ale, me thinks. It's certainly a good looking beer, but it's a shade or two darker than a Sammy Smith OBPA.

The next thing I noticed about this beer is that it smells like goldings hops, lots of them, with just a little caramel. It tastes liket that too. Indeed, my rapid conclusion is that I was drinking an english pale ale, and a pretty damn good one at that. I recommend the beer quite highly. It's a model of english Strong Bitter. Really good carbonation--very little at all--assertive hops, caramel malt. Some english yeast character. Nice body that doesn't let the beer go unnoticed while making it a refreshing session beer.