Hook Norton Hooky (Bottle)

Bottle: Filtered
Amber & Well Balanced

Previously Best Bitter, name changed in to Hooky Bitter in April 2005. "Bitter" subsequently dropped from the name. ABV reduced from 3.6% to 3.5% in 2012.

A subtly balanced, golden bitter, hoppy to the nose, malty on the palate - the classic session beer, eminently drinkable.

177 reviews

Hook Norton, England

Community reviews

3.1 Drunk from a 50cl bottle in Ditchley, UK. Pale, golden, hoppy ale.

3.0 Clear golden color with some orange hues. Aroma is very restrained fruity yeastiness flavor is soft pale malt with some apricot and floral hops. Light palate, easy drinking and refreshing.

2.4 Bottle. Deep golden colour with a white head. Aroma is fruit, malt, caramel. Flavour is fruit, malt, caramel, bread, hint, of wort. Boring beer.

2.9 Kupferfarbenes Bier mit ordentlicher Schaumkrone. Geruch leicht fruchtig hopfig. Geschmack leicht fruchtig hopfig nach Citrus, ansonsten sehr leicht, süffig.

3.4 bottle, 500ml. Clear amber/orange. Off white head. Aroma is fruit, flowery/herbal. Malty taste followed by fruits. Interesting.

3.4 Bottle. Golden with a small head,. Some hops and more body than expected that means it is fighting above its weight. A good session beer but that is all.

2.9 Pours a clear orange/amber with a light tan head. The smell is fruit, biscuit, caramel. The taste is a mind of the nose with some hallow bitterness. Light body with average carbonation.

2.9 Bottle, 500ml. Floral on the nose. Light brown in colour with medium-sized slightly off-white head. Malty taste, with subtle hoppy finish.

2.4 Bottle. Pours deep golden with an off-white head. Aroma of malt, bread, some fruitiness and grains. Flavor is sweet and malty with some fruitiness, caramel,bread and carboard. Medium body, average carbonation.

3.0 Bottle 500ml @ Geokkjer Pours clear deep golden with a off-white head. Aroma has notes of malt, pine, grain and floral. Taste is light to medium sweet and light to medium bitter. Body is light, texture is thin, carbonation is soft.

2.2 Bottle. It’s lightly unclear, dark golden to amber in color and with a small, white head. The aroma has quite a lot of bready maltyness, caramel hints and some dried fruits. Dms hints and a littl fruityness. The flavor too is on the malty side, bready and wort-ish, with caramel, some dried fruits and a little bitterness. Medium body, quite dry, with soft carbonation. Some bitterness in the finish. Not very good this one, but probably sessionable... in a way. 140608

3.0 A clear appearance of dark amber with medium-sized white head. Aroma has floral and fruity elements, British hops make their presence felt. Taste is light bitter but maltier than the aroma. Nutty notes complement the fruitiness. The palate is very light and easily drinkable, as intended. Mild, easy and balanced bitter.

3.4 Pours out of the bottle in a clear golden colour with low airy head and crisp body. Aroma of hops and flowers. Taste of hops, ligth malt, bread and flowers. Dry-bitter finish with a little watery touch. Nice one.

2.9 Starting off nicely with some hops and leaves. Then getting more and more thin - maybe due to its low ABV. Easy too drink but a bit watery. Average one.

2.4 Flaske 0,5l fra Eide Handel. Drukket hjemme 30 Mai 13. Mørk gylden. Pent luftig skum med litt lacing. Svakt metallisk aroma. Vassen smak. Antydning til syrlig frukt. Avslutter litt metallisk.

2.7 500ml bottle from Beers of Europe. Pours golden brown with little-to-no white head. Low carbonation. Aromas of caramel, light lemon and herbal notes. Light fruit on the taste. Clean finish. Thin and watery.

2.9 Simple bitter. Caramel aroma. Fruity taste with balanced biterness. Light/medium body.

3.0 Caramel and fruit in the aroma. Light amber with a white head. Medium sweet and medium bitter. Light to medium body with a soft carbonation. Overall totally OK bitter, but not to exciting this one.

3.0 Golden ale in both style and appearance, although hardly any head on it. There’s a slight orange fruitiness to it and it slips down the palate with ease.

2.1 Aroma:no real aroma Taste:light malty notes , slight creamyness Appearance:light brown body thin white head with retention

2.7 Bottle Aroma-hops Appearance-golden, hazy, white foam, Taste-medium bitterness, light sweetness, Palate-light body, slick feel, soft carbonation, abrupt finish Overall- not bad

2.9 Unexceptional but quite drinkable. It suffers for its lack of alcohol, leaving the flavor flat and simple, but not necessarily bad.

2.5 Gyllen farve med lite lyst skum. Lukt av malt og frukt. Smak av malt, karamell og frukt. Ølutsalg.

2.8 Duft av malt og aprikos. fin honnihgfarge. Lite skum. smak av bitterhet med en litt varig bitter ettersmak.

2.9 500ml bottle from Eide Handel. Shiny copper coloured body. Off-white head with fine retention. Smooth leafy hops on the nose, semi-sweet. Flavours of caramel and leafy hops. Sharp, but short-lived, dry bitter ending. Not too thin. A decent session beer (shared with friends in Tromsø, 02.08.2013).

3.5 My Bottom Line: Hay-like cereals, stone minerals and orange-y splashes lead to pepper-y hop bitterness in this bubbly, lean quencher. Further Personal Perceptions: -A sheet of foam tops the amber gown. -The flavour profile is balanced and delicate. -This is akin to many Světlý Výčepní I’ve had. -If it were on cask, I would drink it like water. Bottle.

2.3 Bottle from Brewdog Slovensko. Aroma caramel, light hops, very light fruitiness. Clear amber colour. Medium sized white head, very short duration. Taste is mostly hoppy right from the beginning. Hops profile is simple and uninteresting, earthy, with quite stong metallic tang. Finish is plain bitter and metallic.

3.2 Bottle from Vaaland, Bryne. Pours dark golden with a small white head.Aroma is sweet malts and dusty hops. Taste is sweet nutty malts, watery body, but quite full for the low abv, good ordinary best bitter.

2.6 Bottled. A gift for my 35th b-day togehther with 25 more beer bottles. Malty aroma with tiny hints fruits. The color is nice golden brown. The taste is malty, refreshing, espresso like, bitter finish. Alcohol low due to 3.5% abv. The overall taste is similar to a home brew I recently made from concentrate (a bitter ale style beer).

2.4 0.5l bottle. This one is clear dark nutty golden - almost bronze in the glass and it has a medium sized islandy and bubbly white head. Not to inviting on the aroma to be honest. Quite grainy with something bearing resemblance of vegetables. Also traces of both biter nuts and wet grass. Something that’s not tickling my nose here, but hard to pinpoint what it is. It’s really thin and watery this. Below average on the carbonation. Soft and watery flavors. Feels floral with a thin but still present bitterness. Actually not that bad, but the flavor is really generic and standard. Wish it could be a bit more challenging, but considering the genre and the abv, it’s not all that bad. 26.04.2013