Une Hobgoblin d'antan pour PJ

C'est aujourd'hui la fête de mon frère PJ. Le chanceux a sa fête en octobre. Ce qui veut dire que sa fête a souvent une dimension un peu Halloweenesque. Pour souligner, je partage une photo de la Hobgoblin Gold de  Wychwood Brewery. Parce que sa fête arrive proche de l'Halloween, parce que les produits de Wychwood sont, ou en tout cas étaient, associés à l'Halloween et parce que c'est la bière qu'il a bue lors de son dernier séjour en Angleterre en 2017, quand il est venu célébrer la fête de son neveu.  dans le temps, les étiquettes avaient des couleurs spéciales pour l'Halloween. Plus maintenant. Le goût de la bière a aussi changé, mais c'est une autre histoire. Je ne boirai sans doute pas de Hobgoblin à sa santé aujourd'hui, mais je lui en envoie une virtuelle, dans l'étiquette d'antan.

Une bière pour PJ

 C'est aujourd'hui la fête de mon frère PJ. J'ai toujours été un peu envieux qu'il ait sa fête en octobre, si proche de l'Halloween. Comme c'est une tradition chaque année sur ce blogue, je bois à sa santé une bière virtuelle, la  Hobgoblin de  Wychwood Brewery. C'est la bière qu'il a bu lors de sa dernière visite ici en 2017, lors de la fête de petit loup. Cette photo date de 2018. Malheureusement, ils ne font plus les étiquettes des bouteilles comme celles-ci.

Une Hobgoblin pour PJ

C'est la fête de mon frère PJ aujourd'hui et comme c'est une tradition sur ce blogue je la souligne avec la photo d'une bière. Vous avez identifié la Hobgoblin de Wychwood Brewery. Une photo qui date de 2017, je crois que je la partage ici pour la première fois. Dans le temps qu'ils avaient leurs étiquettes spéciales de l'Halloween. Je suis désespéré depuis qu'ils ont des trucs bien plus ordinaires et aucune version pour l'Halloween. Mais enfin bref, je partage cette photo pour trois raisons: 1)c'est la première bière (en version blonde) qu'a bu PJ lors de sa visite ici en 2017, 2)j'associe sa fête à l'Halloween, puisqu'il est né en octobre, 3)la Hobgoblin clame être la bière officieuse de l'Halloween. Enfin bref bonne fête petit frère et j'en boirai une à ta santé.

A Hobgoblin for Halloween

I took this picture back in 2015 and I shared it on Facebook then. I don't think I ever shared it here. It came back asa memory a few days ago. You can recognize I love Wychwood Brewery's Hobgoblin, in a special bottle for Halloween. Because the brewery claims it is the Unofficial Beer of Halloween. And I tend to agree. Or I used to, anyway, until they decided to change the label and not to make a special edition of the bottles and labels for October. To my great sadness. I blogged about it last year, wondering whatever happened to the Hobgoblin. Well, at leastI have my sentimentality to thank for pictures of the old bottles, so I can still share it on this blog for the countdown to Halloween.

Une Hobgoblin pour PJ

Aujourd'hui, c'est la fête de mon frère PJ et, comme c'est la tradition sur Vraie Fiction, je lui présente une bière virtuelle, la Hobgoblin Gold de  Wychwood Brewery.Avec leurs bouteilles spéciales de l'Halloween, ça date du temps pas si lointain où leurs bouteilles avaient de la gueule. Il y a plusieurs raisons pour laquelle je lui envoie cette bière-ci comme bière virtuelle: 1)l'Halloween approche à grands pas et la Hobgoblin, c'est LA bière de l'Halloween, 2)j'ai toujours associé son anniversaire à l'Halloween et 3)lors de son séjour en Angleterre en 2017 pour la fête de son neveu, la Hobgoblin Gold est la première bière qu'il avait bue. Alors voilà, à la tienne frérot et bonne fête encore.

Wolfie and the Hobgoblin

I love a lot of English beers and there is a special place in my heart for Wychwood Brewery's Hobgoblin. It is one of the first beers from an English microbrewery I ever drank, years ago in Montreal and it has been a favourite of mine since then. I like far less, however, the new label. Well, it turns out that I am not the only one disliking it: last week, Wolfie asked not to show it, because he thought the Hobgoblin was scary. He never told me that before, but apparently the axe wieldding critter gives him shivers. Not sure what to do with this new situation.

Une bière pour PJ

C'est aujourd'hui la fête de mon frère PJ. Il est chanceux, sa fête est en octobre, le mois de l'Halloween. Comme pour l'année dernière, je souligne en virtuel avec une photo d'une Hobgoblin (du temps qu'ils avaient des bouteilles avec de la gueule), parce que je crois comprendre que c'est une bière anglaise qu'il a bien aimée. Nous allons le fêter ici aussi, j'espère pouvoir lui parler sur Facetime et trinquer virtuellement. Il y a huit heures de différence entre lui et moi, alors ça fait un gros décalage à harmoniser, mais on fera ce qu'on pourra. Sinon, comme je l'ai souvent dit, j'ai souvent préféré fêter son anniversaire que le mien, parce qu'octobre c'est vraiment un mois parfait pour une fête, si comme moi vous aimez l'Halloween. L'idéal, ce serait peut-être de le fêter ici, avec de la Hobgoblin comme bière. On peut rêver.

Whatever happened to the Hobgoblin?

For today's countdown to Halloween's post, a very sad story, which I hesitated to blog about, as it upsets me so much. My readers know how much I love Wychwood Brewery's Hobgoblin. For the beer of course, its taste and its nice ruby colour (well, the original ruby one, as it has a blonde variety). Now Hobgoblin is also the officious beer of Halloween, or has been for years. And every year, they come up with a new design for the beers sold around October. Design that has jack o'lanterns and other seasonal things on them. I love Hobgoblin's label designs, during Halloween even moreso. But last year, they updated their label design into something... Well, something blah. You can see a picture of the new design at your right. Absolutely horrible.

And because of this, there was no seasonal design for Halloween last year and there has been none this year either, as far as I know. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to find at reduced price (£4.00 for a bunch of four cans, a bargain) cans of Hobgoblin from the previous year with the good old seasonal design, so Hobgoblin remained last year my beer of choise for the season. But this year, well, I don't know what to do. I know I can and (if i put myself into it) will find suitable beers for Halloween, heck every year for the countdown I blog about a spooky beer or two I discovered. But in the end, it will not be the same. Because I have equated Hobgoblin with the beer of Halloween for more than ten years now. It is hard to see it with a label that reminds me of an old Labatt or Molson. It is just so very sad. Well at least my glass still looks good, with the witch on it. Still, why can't we have the old seasonal design back?

Une bière (et une réflexion) pour la fête de PJ

C'est aujourd'hui la fête de mon frère PJ et comme à chaque année je le souligne ici (du moins j'essaie). Comme je ne peux pas fêter avec lui, je vais le faire virtuellement en partageant une photo d'une bière qu'il a déjà essayée, la Hobgoblin Gold de  Wychwood Brewery. (Rien de bien nouveau ici: je l'ai fait en 2017 et 2018). Étiquetée aux images de l'Halloween, ce qui est encore plus approprié, sa fête étant en octobre. Je l'ai d'ailleurs toujours un peu envié pour cela. L'un de nos amis d'enfance est aussi né en octobre et je me rappelle qu'il s'en plaignait, parce qu'il était une année après nous à l'école. Je me rappelle même qu'il avait dit une fois, exaspéré: "Octobre, octobre, j'aimerais juste que le mois n'existe pas!" Il faut dire qu'il n'était guère porté sur l'Halloween. Il y en a qui ne connaissent pas leur chance.

Fire Catcher

If you are looking for a poison for the Summer and if, like me, you find blonde beers lacking flavours, I have a suggestion for you: Fire Catcher by Wychwood Brewery. Yup, them again. Of all the brewery's products, it is one of the most difficult to find (from my experience anyway), but it is a proper summertime beer. Darkish for a blonde, light in alcohol, with some citrus aroma, it is most definitely a summertime beer. Not the best from Wychwood Brewery, but not insipid enough to feel ashamed of drinking it. Fire Catcher may be blonde, but it is a dirty blonde and perfect to drink on a hot summer day.

Hobgoblin's top contributor

You may know that of all the great beers this country makes, Wychwood Brewery's Hobgoblin is maybe my favourite. Well, I learnedon my Facebook feed that I had become one of Hobgoblin's Facebook pages top contributors. No idea how I ended up deserving that as I do not comment all that much on the page, if at all. I merely put likes and I sometimes (but rarely) share their posts. Something I do for a good number of microbreweries' Facebook pages. Maybe it is just a marketing trick and they gave me the title randomly. Maybe they want to encourage their customers to share more content from the page and I am a complete and utter sucker. Be that as it may, it made my day when I learned about it. It is a long love story between Hobgoblin and I, dating back from my first year at uni, so I cherish this title of top contributor, however undeserving I may be.

Un tonneau de bière pour PJ

Non, non, je ne l'ai pas acheté, ni pour moi ni pour personne. Mais je sais que ça existe et j'en ai pour preuve cette photo. C'est la fête de mon petit frère PJ. S'il vivait en Angleterre au lieu de la Califournie, c'est ce que je lui achèterais pour aujourd'hui. Parce que c'est vette bière exactement qu'on a partagé lors de son séjour ici il y a un an environ. Aussi, parce que son anniversaire de naissance, je l'associe à l'Halloween et aux préparatifs de la fête, étant donné que c'est le même mois. Il avait toujours au moins quelques cadeaux qui étaient reliés à l'Halloween, directement ou non. À défaut de célébrer avec lui et de pouvoir lui offrir ce cadeau, je partage cette photo en son honneur. Bonne fête frérot.

The return of Halloween's Hobgoblin

This was not merely tonight's poison, this this month's poison: Wychwood Brewery's Hobgoblin. The true, the one and only, the officious and maybe in this country the official beer of Halloween, even though there are plenty of ales that could be counted as spooky. It is available all year round, but come October and it is in a special bottle. This year's Halloween bottle for the Hobgoblin is far more sober than last year, as you can see in this post. I am not sure which one I prefer. But in the end it is the same beer. I will drink more of it until the 31st, as well as other products from Wychwood. And you, what is your poison for Halloween?

Hobgoblin, the crisps

My readers know how much I love beer and how much I love Wychwood Brewery's Hobgoblin. I love everything about it: its look, its taste, its label and the way Wychwood uses British folklore. Well, I discovered last year, at total random, that they also sell crisps. To be precise, the Spit Roast Steak flavour Hand Cooked Potato Chips. Now that is a mouthful, in more than one way. I found this bag in the vending machine of my previous working place. It was during my lunch break and I hurried up to buy the bag, as there was only one left in the whole machine. I rarely eat crisps when it is not on a Friday, but thought I'd treat myself then and there and I had to cease the opportunity.

So what was the verdict? Delicious, and even though I know there was no true steak in it... It did taste like steak. Not like roasted venison as the bag seems to indicate, but that does not matter: it is as if little imps had flavoured it with the result of their hunt, as the picture on the back of the bag seems to indicate. I must confess, I am truly a sucker for Wychwood's imagery: I could have kept the bag, I thought the drawings were so darn cool. The only problem is that I had no Hobgoblin beer to go with the crisps. Maybe next time. Because believe it or not, I haven't had these crisps since then.

The Officious Beer of Halloween

Quick countdown to Halloween post for tonight, as I had a very busy Sunday. My apologies if it looks familiar with my long time readers and if it sounds a bit like a plus you already read recently here. But in any case, I cannot neglect mentioning my favourite ale for Halloween, my poison for the season and the officious beer of Halloween: Wychwood Brewery's Hobgoblin. Good all year round, but especially this time of year. And while you cannot judge a beer by its label, let's face it, they went out of their way to have a truly cool bottle this year and really put you in a spooky mood. If you drink one beer for Halloween, it has to be this one.

Une bière pour PJ

C'est la fête à mon frère PJ aujourd'hui et je voulais le célébrer virtuellement sur ce blogue. J'ai pensé à une image de gâteau, mais ben c'est banal et je l'ai déjà fait. Comme sa fête arrive dans le temps de l'Halloween et que donc la fête a donc hanté sa fête (ha, ha, ha!), ça tombe un peu sous le sens que je souligne avec une photo d'une bière de Wychwood Brewery aux images de l'Halloween, la Hobgoblin Gold. C'est aussi l'une des bières qu'il a essayées lors de son séjour ici, dans ce verre que vous voyez d'ailleurs. Alors voilà, bonne fête frérot et j'encourage tout le monde de boire une pinte en son honneur.

Pumpking

For tonight's countdown to Halloween, a real ale suggestion. I had wanted to try it for a long time, I finally had the chance last week: I drank Pumpking from Wychwood Brewery. I cannot believe it took me that long! And a quick verdict: I loved it! It has the ideal colour, this burning amber brown, not unlike the Hobgoblin which is their flag beer. I was surprised at how dark it was, thinking it might be a blonde. But I guess they went for the colour of a lit Jack O'Lantern. Or I am reading too much into it. But try it and please feel free to give me your impressions in the comments. For once the beer has as much character as its label. So all hail to the (Pump)king!

Black Wych

Halloween is coming and that means drinking spooky stuff. More often than none, the beer lover that I am enjoy products from the Wychwood Brewery. Last weekend, I revisited for the first time in about fifteen years the Black Wych. And last time I drank it, I did not appreciate it much, because I was already seriously wasted. Now being older and (somewhat) wiser, I could truly enjoy it. I seldom drink porters, I am more into brown ales than black ones, but this one is quite good. Witches being one of the important characters of Halloween folklore, I will try to drink more of this one. One last observation: the witch on the label is not an ugly old hag but a young and sexy sorceress. This is a rare coming from Wychwood: most of their characters, like the Hobgoblin, are ugly critters. Don't know why, but I find this detail quite interesting.

The hour of the Hobgoblin

This is tonight's countdown to Halloween post. I have not been drinking alcohol since I am a father, but as Halloween is approaching I know which beer I will most likely drink first: Hobgoblin from Wychwood Brewery, the officious beer of Halloween and one of
my favourite real ales. Available all year round, but you enjoy it far more when Halloween is coming. I have the traditional ruby coloured one of course. They also make special labels when Halloween is near. And then, when the season is gone, you can still find some bottles with the Jack O'Lantern and it soothes your Halloween blues. I took this picture in February in the local M&S for instance. But next time I drink it, it will be in anticipation. This is the hour of the Hobgoblin.

Hail to the King!

This was yesterday evening's poison. As my readers know, the products of Wychwood Brewery, as well as their imagery (based on creatures and characters of folklore), are among my favorite of all the microbreweries I have known. I usually drink the Hobgoblin, because it is their flag beer and because it is the most readily available, but the others are great too. And yesterday, I tried for the first time King Goblin. It is a rarity among their beers, because it is only brewed on a full moon. I had wanted to try it for ages, so when I saw it in a supermarket yesterday, I jumped on the occasion. It is a much darker ale than I usually have, and with a far higher alcoholic content: 6.6%. I rarely go above 5%. When I was a teenager it was different: I was all about drinking strong beers. Anyway, King Goblin is definitely a king among beers: strong, full of character and rich taste, it's a real treat. An ale you do not drink to quench thirst, but to savour like a fine wine.