Hop Back Summer Lightning
Cask: Regular. Also available bottle conditioned.
Golden Ale
Terrific straw-coloured beer with a fresh, hoppy aroma and a well rounded, malty flavour with an intense bitterness which leads to an excellent long, dry finish. Winner of numerous, prestigious awards, most notably Best Strong Bitter at The Great British Beer Festival in 1992/93.
Ingredients: Optic pale malt. East Kent Goldings and Challenger hops (The bottled version uses EKG only).
Golden Ale
Terrific straw-coloured beer with a fresh, hoppy aroma and a well rounded, malty flavour with an intense bitterness which leads to an excellent long, dry finish. Winner of numerous, prestigious awards, most notably Best Strong Bitter at The Great British Beer Festival in 1992/93.
Ingredients: Optic pale malt. East Kent Goldings and Challenger hops (The bottled version uses EKG only).
3.1
594 reviews
Downton, England
Community reviews
Cask on Windsor palace. Pours golden color, no head. Aroma of malt, caramel. Taste is medium sweet, medium bitter, caramel, malty backbone.
Half pint fra cask på Princess of Wales aug-19: klar gylden med kort skum. Uinspirert og uinspirerende med litt urtepreget bitterhed og noe honningsødme mot slutten.
Excellent, zesty, golden ale. 😍
500ml bottle from home bargains £1
Pours golden doesn't realky smell of much
Taste of a sweet honey notmuch else
Pours a clear light golden colour with a small fine white head. Aroma is bready malt, grassy and some yeastiness. Taste is sweet malts with somd grassy flavours and a moderate hop bitterness in the finish.
Cask at The Haunch of Venison, Salisbury. Clear golden. Fruity aroma, and some hop presence in the finish. Good, very well served pint here.
Lovely refreshing summer beer. BTW On offer waitrose salisbury £1.50 May 2018
Cask (Kingston Arms, Cambridge). Slightly hazy deep golden color. Medium size, thick off-white head, stays. Sweetish, grainy, light grassy hops in aroma. Light grassy hops and sweet grains in taste. Very nice, pleasant and balanced hopping. Very solid brew.
Straw coloured head didnt last long. Slight chewing gum taste hop comes through in the end a bit bland for the abv but fine.
Review from memory and notes in my 1001 Beers to try before you die book. No tasting notes.
Got from Morrison’s tasted cheap smelt cheap did not like this beer at all
Bottle from off licence.
Lovely golden ale. Everything is right, the carbonation, mouth feel and taste. It's great. The perfect beer to convert lager drinkers. Thought the 5% abv might make it taste boozy, but it wears it well.
This is highly sessionable, and I'll be buying this stuff often. 8.5/10.
found this gem many years ago in a JD wetherspoons. floral aroma , light golden in colour , small white head , refreshing taste
500ml bottle. Lovely summer light golden beer, although equally acceptable
In November, doesn’t taste as strong as 5%, very drinkable
Bottle at home. I used to love this beer and it is still my sister's favourite. It poured with minimal head and I have to say that it was a fairly bland golden ale in terms of flavour. I admit that I have a cold and that doesn't help matters, but I remember that this used to have much more flavour. It slipped down well while finishing making the roast dinner, but beyond that it was not memorable.
Hawley Arms, Camden. Soapy thick white foam, clear gold. Creamy, blonde bitter. Fruity, some citrus. Nice.
Cask at the Bear & Staff, Leicester Square. Clear light gold, white lacing. Floral, citrus dry, plenty of flavour and highly drinkable. Cracking pint, like it says on the tin, ideal for summer
Golden colour with white head. Aroma malt a bit buttery. Taste malt and fruity.
Re-rate from the below in 2017
Cask pint at the Sultan, South Wimbledon. Pours clear pale golden with a white head. Aroma of malt and citrus. Similar taste. Bitter finish.
Cask pint at the Marquis of Granby, Epsom. Pours clear golden yellow with a thin white head. Aroma of malt with hops with something not great, unclean lines? Some butter. Dry bitter finish. Times have moved on since I first had it.
Cask at the Eight Bells beer festival in East Sussex. A classic example of a British golden ale -- it’s light with a bit of honey sweetness but not much more from the hops, and there’s a great hop profile that shows off earth, pine, and citrus before finishing with a long bitterness. Very, very good stuff.
F: thin, white, quick gone.
C: gold, hazy.
A: malty, caramel, bready, fruity, grassy.
T: malty, grassy, caramel, fruity, bready, light to medium body, low carbonation, nice, enjoyed, half pint @ The Half Moon pub near Horsham.
Draw coloured beer. Gently bitter and pleasent. Slight malty tinge that’s disappointing. Very little flavour for a 5% beer. It’s okay.
Cask @ The Dove Street Inn, Ipswich. Pours light golden with an offwhite head. Aroma of light malt, light grain, little grassy hops. Flavor is light bitter, grassy, light citrusly hops. Medium body, soft to average carbonation, light bitter finish. 150217
Cask Pint at The Sultan, South Wimbledon, London Aug 2009 - Yellowy Gold in colour. Intensely bitter citrus hoppy beer. Fruity; citrus lemon and grapefruit. Hoppy; grassy hops. Malty base; caramel. Very bitter citrus fruity hoppy throughout. Very dry in the finish. (2009-08)
Cask at the Stockbridge tap. Pours clear golden, nose is soft toffee, floral, taste is sweet, lemon, toffee, cloying.
Cask at the Station, West Byfleet. 26/07/16. Sharp citrus aroma. Bright golf. Thick blotchy head, with good life to it. Soft bodied, slightly bitter. Crisp citrus. Exactly what you want from a golden ale.
Cask@longhorns, Walsall. Golden beer with medium head. Aroma of pale malts and light lemon. Taste is same with some perfume hops. Decent.
500ml bottle. Clear golden colour with a one finger white head. Aroma is mildly hoppy, malty, biscuity. Taste of sweet malt, bitter hops, lemon zest, slight biscuity and slight grassy flavour to it. Pretty good, refreshing beer, though not one of my favourites.
Cask at The Duke William, Burslem. A clear golden colour with a frothy white head. Aroma of lemon, some honey, slight biscuit and subtle floral hops. Taste of lemon, a little honey, a hint of banana, some biscuit and slight floral hops. Medium bodied and soft carbonation. A dryish, slightly biscuity, floral hop bitterness in the finish. Quite a basic, strong golden ale. Quite balanced which I like but not as hoppy as I want it.
Unusual pale lemon appearance, unfiltered with a white foam. Aromas of honey, lemon, banana. A very fresh beer. Surprisingly bitter malty taste with medium body. Grassy and fresh. Would be great on a summers day as a refreshing beer, not my usual style but would recommend.