Goose Island Honker's Ale - Beer Review

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The Better Beer Authority tackles Honker's Ale from the Goose Island Brewery in Chicago, Illinois. We discuss the basic ingredients in beer. Why do Scott and Adam clash over whether the flavor achieves its goals? And, why do I have to blur out their hand gestures? All this and more in this riveting beer review!

Partial Transcript: "On Tap Honkers Ale.

Hi. Im James Knott and this is your Better Beer Authority. Today we are talking about Honkers Ale from the Goose Island Beer Company in Chicago, Illinois. Goose Island operates two brew pubs in Chicago and ships its beers to 15 states and the U.K..

Honkers Ale is an English Style Bitter with 4.2% ABV, thats Alcohol by Volume, and 30 IBUs, or International Bitterness Units.

Goose Island says that this ale was inspired by visits to English country pubs. Theyve added wheat to the grain bill for a little creaminess and roasted barley for toastiness on the backend.

Before we discuss Honkers Ale, lets do a quick Beer 101.

While there are tons of variations and exceptions, the majority of beer consumed today is based on four main ingredients:

Water
Barley
Hops
And Yeast

Well discuss the roles of each of these ingredients in-depth in future episodes. But first, lets talk about Honkers Ale.


Q&A: Scott, Hows the drinkability of this beer? Is this a Burger Beer?


Honkers Ale receives (???) quacks on the BBA scale. Dont forget to leave your opinion of this fine ale in the comment section.

Id like to recommend a book to those of you who are trying to learn more about beer.

Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher does a great job of describing the history of beer, how to taste it, what to eat it with and what to appreciate in the different styles. Its a fairly easy read with great illustrations.

It will take you from beer novice to beer snob in two hops of a barleys malt.

You can find out more about this book at BetterBeerAuthority.com.

Im James Knott and this is your Better Beer Authority."

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• better
• beer
• authority
• james
• knott
• review
• rating
• critic
• ale
• lager
• hops
• malt
• honkers
• goose
• island
• chicago
• illinois
• brewery
• brown
• english
• uk
• brewer
• yeast
• water

[japplegren]

It's really sad what's happened to this beer. I work for a specialty liquor store and am very honest with customers when they inquire into Goose Island as a whole.

[AgileHProductions]

@japplegren Have you noticed a difference in quality? When did it start to change?

[kub73158]

Honker's Ale easily used to be one of my favorites.

I noticed months ago it was not as full flavored, plus the taste was off.

Recently I found out that they sold the company to Budweiser.

They've obviously cheapened it. It's a real shame!

The same thing happened long ago to Pilsner Urquell, St. Pauli Girl & probably others. :>(

[AgileHProductions]

@kub73158 I think that selling out to budweiser hurt the brand for craft beer drinkers, but the average American could probably care less.

[SuperExcuses]

Why do you censor? People watching this should be atleast 19. I think it would be better if you didnt censor

[AgileHProductions]

@SuperExcuses I censor because I don't want the show to be about penis jokes and other stuff like that. I want it to be focused on the beer. I censor less now than I used to because they understand better how to have fun without cursing and telling immature jokes. I just let a joke about sore dicks pass the censors in our "Little Sumpin Sumpin" episode. I'm not a prude, but I have two kids and I want to be involved in a show that I can be proud to show them someday.

[AgileHProductions]

@Dominic3333333 You're fired!

[Dominic3333333]

drink bad beer? you're fired! lol ok I'm done now, too many beers...

[Dominic3333333]

oh and 1 more comment, does James Knott remind anyone of Donald Trump? they sound alike and have same vibe lol

[Dominic3333333]

I've been trying different beers for awhile now, I've drank a wide range of different beers, I really like this beer, I would give it a 8, maybe 8.5 out of 10, it has a great taste, perfect balance of hops and malt, and I agree with what Scott said here, you can drink 10 or 12 (lol) I get what he means. good beer!