Goose Island Honker's Ale: Honk your horn
Written: Feb 01 '01 (Updated Jun 23 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: It's a decent beer from what seems to be an above average brewery
Cons: Availability? I got mine in a gift pack. Nothing outstanding
The Bottom Line: Drink it to try it, but nothing too exciting. This seems like a decent brewery that surely has better products.
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| andaryl's Full Review: Goose Island Honker's Ale |
One of my favorite gifts this Christmas was my Goose Island gift pack containing 2 each of six different beers from this Chicago brewery. I would like to start out this review by letting everyone know that their Oatmeal Stout is one of the best USA beers available. I later tried the Christmas ale, which while satisfying was pretty unspectacular. So it was behind a complete split decision that I checked out the Honkers.
My first thoughts about the Honkers were, what a curious name, so much so that I had to look the word up. In England, a honker refers to a big nose. The answer to this one however was going to be a lot simpler: a honk is the noise a goose makes.....how obvious....how ironic. I remembered a while ago reviewing the Oatmeal and trying to describe the action of the goose on the label. If only my vocabulary had spread so far at that time.
OK, so enough honking, what about the beer. As far as I've read this appears to be one of the better known beers of this brewery, which is the reason I decided to check it out before the other 3 in the pack.
I would have to say that this one is a pale ale, pouring to an amber/golden color. The pour itself is pretty impressive, with cascading bubbles spinning around the glass. There's a nice head of foam although it quickly disappears.
The aroma is very light for an ale. hoppy, citrussy, with a hint of malt. The palate is light leading to a slightly sweet initial taste before the hops take over resulting in a dry finish with a little bitterness. There's also a hint of toastiness in the aftertaste.
Overall this is a decent beer but nothing too exciting. I enjoyed the one I had but wouldn’t drink it again, except for the one I still have left.
This is definitely a beer that would work better with food, typically pub food such as buffalo wings, pizza and burgers.
This beer is an easy drinker: I could easily knock back 6 or 8 of these with friends, but there are plenty of better pale ales to waste my money (and braincells) on. I do however look forward to trying other brews from Goose Island, and like I said their Oatmeal is one of my favorites.
I didn't want the corporate stuff to influence my review, so I didn't check out the website until after writing. Apparantly this beer was a Gold Medal Winner 1997 as an aEnglish style bitter in the Great American Beer Festival, and it's the flagship of the company. Personally I don't see it. It's worth drinking, but nothing outstanding.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
andaryl
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Member: Andrew Smith
Location: The Desert, So Cal
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