GREEN GOBLIN & HOBGOBLIN:
Taste buds . . . tingling! Wychwood Brewery in Oxfordshire has a penchant for supernatural-sounding names for its brews. Green Goblin is actually a cider, but these two were practically begging to be put in the same article. I've been a fan of Hobgoblin (The Unofficial Ale of Halloween) for years, and I've been trying to find a good English cider, so my researches eventually brought me to Green Goblin. There's something you should know about British cider: What you in the States call "cider," is pretty much what we call "pressed apple juice." What you might call "hard cider," we just call "cider." What we call "hard cider," (or "scrumpy") is what you might call "paint remover." Scrumpy, produced with apples in the same way that wholesome natural grain is made into moonshine, is not nice stuff; it will dissolve your nervous tissue faster than it will rot your liver, rendering you blind and/or insane with regular dosage over a period of years. Then you die of liver failure. Green Goblin is most assuredly not that kind of cider, but neither is it the best I've ever drunk. Which is a pity, because otherwise I've really liked every single Wychwood product I've ever tried.