Something wicked Wych way comes

Prudent. But if potions are being taken this Halloween a word to the wise: the witching hour is as good a time as ever to reacquaint yourself with a familiar brew on bars where casks are pumped.

Wychwood’s Hobgoblin is an ale I have not partaken of for years and, truth told, were it not for the pump-head being trimmed up in Halloween finery I quite likely would have passed it by again.

A close shave. This dark ruby ale cast a spell over yours truly inside one sip at The Sherwood (in Fulwood, an unassuming yet pleasant pub a stone’s throw from LEP HQ) not two nights ago, and one I would expect to see me right through the dark season.

The scent of dark soft fruit and plain chocolate had me hook line and sinker before my lips even touched the ruby ale itself, and the flavour sealed the deal at first taste.

Bonfire toffee-like sweet with just enough bitterness to quench, the glass – my second and final of the evening – emptied at a speed which can only be described as spooky.

My first pint had been a Wainwrights. Well enough kept, and as enjoyable as this Carling Black Label of cask ale ubiquity ever is – which is to say, fairly.

Not been in The Sherwood for some time. Having rediscovered Hobgoblin, it might now become a regular haunt.

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