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[quote:1rhpwmg9]I had some Hooker in the 12 Hotel Bearna, and while it was very good it didn't have the hop freshness of the B & C. This is to be expected in pubs with little throughput. We are spoiled by the high turnover in the B & C, but can't really expect the same freshness from quieter establishments.[/quote:1rhpwmg9]
I've noticed the same thing in the 12, I had a few there over Christmas. Still the nicest beer they have though. Aidan mentioned that Hooker is a harder sell outside of the city (Galway) which is to be expected. With the throughput they have the B&C seems to be the best place to get a high class hooker. (boom boom)

I first tried this beer in Galway on the October bank holiday weekend 2006 when it was just out. I took an extra days holiday so as to make sure I got to a pub that served it and was able to drink it in classic Galway fashion.....during the day over a newspaper! I wasn't sure if I would end up in one of the few chosen bars stocking Hooker that weekend so I took the necessary precautions!

To me it tasted of an extract beer and my thoughts drifted to a few brewries I've heard of that use extract to bulk up their grain bill. But then I thought that it may be because of scorching the malt (and/or the extract as well!), a problem that a new brewer might fall victim to with a new set up.

Anyway, I had 3 pints and admired the new logo'd beermats and attractive draught tower. I genuinely felt excited for Irelands new beer. But what I will say (carefully!) of this much loved beer is that it doesn't taste the same as I remember it from that weekend. I think it tastes great now.

Perhaps you got an early keg Wobbler? Taste anything like an extract beer?

Disclaimer: Granted, it could just have been the treatment of the keg from brewery to tap. But it was a fresh keg on the tap that I was drinking that day, or so I was told.

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To be honest, I'm not mucvh of a brewer so don't know what an extract beer tastes like. Sorry.

It has never tasted like extract to me and I am very familiar with the extract 'twang'.

I hasten to add that not all extract beer has an "extract taste" <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) -->

And I hope to the beer gods that Aidan will give me the exact recipe so I can convert it to extract and save my sanity after I move <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

&amp;quot;Adeptus&amp;quot;:18n56jej wrote: I hasten to add that not all extract beer has an "extract taste" <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) -->

And I hope to the beer gods that Aidan will give me the exact recipe so I can convert it to extract and save my sanity after I move <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->[/quote:18n56jej]

True, it tends to some from LME mostly.