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Hobsons Brewery in Cleobury Mortimer in Worcestershire took the brewing world by storm in August when it won the Champion Beer of Britain top accolade at CAMRA's Great British Beer Festival in London with its 3.2%
Mild. The beer is a genuine, traditional dark mild and its success gives a fillip to the small mild sector. The cask version of the beer is available in pubs within a 50-mile radius of the brewery but it will now enjoy wider
appreciation in a stronger, bottled version called Postman's Knock.
Founded in 1993 by the Davis family, the brewery was first based in an old sawmill. It relocated to a farm site nearby and a new brewery was installed in 2006. It includes a bottling plant that has enabled the
company to add bottle-conditioned versions of its beers to its portfolio.
Hobsons Postman's Knock (England) 
(RP) 4.8% is a powerful strength for a modern mild, but not unusual when the style was in its pomp in Victorian times. It uses the finest malting barley, Maris Otter, with pale malt augmented with dark
crystal and pale chocolate malts and a touch of wheat and vanilla. The hops are Worcestershire Fuggles and Goldings.
The beer is named in honour of Simon Evans (1895-1940), a novelist and short story writer, who settled in Cleobury Mortimer after World War One. He had been badly affected by poison gas in the war and, in order to
improve his health, worked as a postman, walking up to 18 miles a day.
The deep bronze/russet beer has a tempting aroma of chocolate, vanilla and earthy Fuggles hops. Good hop bitterness an d hop resins are present in the mouth, balanced by rich, dark grain, vanilla and chocolate.
The finish is dry with continuing chocolate and dark grain notes and a good counter-balance of resiny, earthy hops. This is champion beer by any definition and can be bought, in an attractive box holding six bottles,
from the brewery for �10. See hobsons-brewery.co.uk; 01299 270837.
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