{"id":687,"date":"2009-01-20T00:02:18","date_gmt":"2009-01-19T11:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/?p=687"},"modified":"2011-03-02T15:15:28","modified_gmt":"2011-03-02T02:15:28","slug":"hopback-summer-lightning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2009\/01\/20\/hopback-summer-lightning\/","title":{"rendered":"Hopback ‘Summer Lightning’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hopback<\/a>
Hopback 'Summer Lightning'<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This brewery’s self-proclaimed ‘flagship beer’, and a hugely-awarded one at that. Bottle-conditioning makes it a conspicuously-hazy warm gold, and it’s quite a lot fuller and maltier in the body than a lot of the Goldens I’ve been having lately. If it makes any sense, I almost want to say it’s more of a singly-capitalised golden Ale than what is (maybe mostly just to me) a doubly-capitalised Golden Ale. But for similar reasons, it’d make a great Gateway Golden for lagerheads, being all crisp and yum as it is.<\/p>\n

Verbatim:<\/strong> Hopback ‘Summer Lightning’ Golden Ale. 20\/1\/09 $7 at Rumbles 500ml %5. A nice warm gold with slight haze — bottle conditioned. Quite a lot maltier than my other recent Goldens. Flagship beer of Hopback, and hugely awarded. More full bitterness not bad, just another expectations issue. (Lots of point-missing reviews.) Crisp +yum. Gateway Golden for lager-heads.<\/p>\n

\"Hopback<\/a>
Diary entry #75, Hopback 'Summer Lightning'<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Afterthoughts, November 2010:<\/strong> The reference to ‘point-missing reviews’ comes from that fact that a lot of self-identified beer geeks don’t ‘get’ golden ale; you’ll see people harping about how the flavour is so light and soft and non-full-on. Which is exactly<\/em> the idea. Not every damn beer has to be a punch in the face, people. There’s a lot of merit to be had in easy-going yumness.<\/p>\n

Also, perhaps I’m just being picky, but that is the worst<\/em> beer photo I’ve taken in ages. I’m not even sure why I dislike it so much; the glass, the focus, the wonky angle. Maybe the perilously-boozy beer before it softened my standards \/ ability again<\/a>. But I certainly made up for it the next day<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This brewery’s self-proclaimed ‘flagship beer’, and a hugely-awarded one at that. Bottle-conditioning makes it a conspicuously-hazy warm gold, and it’s quite a lot fuller and maltier in the body than a lot of the Goldens I’ve been having lately. If it makes any sense, I almost want to say it’s more of a singly-capitalised golden … Continue reading Hopback ‘Summer Lightning’<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[6,17,28],"class_list":["post-687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diary","tag-pages","tag-england","tag-golden-ale"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":600,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2008\/11\/25\/three-boys-golden-ale\/","url_meta":{"origin":687,"position":0},"title":"Three Boys Golden Ale","author":"Phil","date":"November 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Pure summer gorgeousness. A very pale straw, and slightly hazy here since the small amount of sediment was a wee bit agitated-in. As Scott (the Bar Manager) puts it \"it's fruity, it's flirty, it's fantastic\". Absurdly refreshing, and apparently a \"single malt\" beer (which is fairly cute), it's got an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Three Boys Golden Ale","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Three-Boys-Golden-Ale-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1346,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2009\/02\/09\/three-boys-golden-ale-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":687,"position":1},"title":"Three Boys Golden Ale, again","author":"Phil","date":"February 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This made for a nice finish to a civilised and therapeutic afternoon \/ evening of good beers and good books, and is still my front-runner for Beer of the Summer '08\/'09. Afterthoughts, February 2011: I really do love this beer to bits. It's in the Diaries a few times, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Three Boys Golden Ale","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Three-Boys-Golden-again-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":227,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2005\/05\/04\/badger-golden-champion\/","url_meta":{"origin":687,"position":2},"title":"Badger ‘Golden Champion’","author":"Phil","date":"May 4, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Verbatim: Badger Golden Champion. 500ml, $5, 5%, 4\/5\/05, with sausages + Firefly. I'm visiting these guys and shaking the hand of the man what makes their beer. Gold, indeed. Really tasty. Warm fruitiness. Peaches, quite a bit. It's really good. [Brewed w\/ elderflower!] Afterthoughts, October 2010: A nice early example\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Badger 'Golden Champion'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Diary-1025-Badger-Golden-Champion-300x174.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":897,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2010\/10\/05\/three-boys-golden-ale-on-handpull\/","url_meta":{"origin":687,"position":3},"title":"Three Boys Golden Ale (on handpull)","author":"Phil","date":"October 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Three Boys Golden is an absolute favourite of mine. So after the heartbreak that was the Hopinated version of\u00a0 Twisted Hop's 'Sauvin' Pils -- another beer whose deliciousness is closely-tied to its simplicity -- I was a little nervous to try this. Especially after Martin had some and found it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Three Boys Golden Ale, handpulled","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Diary-2021-Three-Boys-Golden-Ale-handpulled-300x166.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":654,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2009\/01\/10\/invercargill-wasp-golden-ale-incarnation\/","url_meta":{"origin":687,"position":4},"title":"Invercargill ‘Wasp’ (Golden Ale incarnation)","author":"Phil","date":"January 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm increasingly certain that my nomination for Under-rated Beer Style is golden ale. I've got a few more sitting on my bookcase ready to try soon, but I'd also never gotten around to trying this one that we've had at work for ages. And it's pretty bloody lovely, really. Compared\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Invercargill 'Wasp'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Invercargill-Wasp-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":773,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2010\/09\/16\/racecourse-phoenix-golden-ale\/","url_meta":{"origin":687,"position":5},"title":"Racecourse ‘Phoenix’ Golden Ale","author":"Phil","date":"September 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Re-creating old recipes is a neat idea, I think. There are some wickedly wonderful bookish types and homebrewers who archive old brewery notes and get themselves the chance to resurrect and sample long-dead brews. There are also outfits like Dogfish Head who tee up with archeology boffins and go distinctly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Racecourse 'Phoenix' Golden Ale","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Racecourse-Phoenix-Golden-Ale-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=687"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1637,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687\/revisions\/1637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}