Dark Star Hophead is one of the better known craft beers noted as the name suggests for its hoppy character and being one of the new wave of beers in that area.
It has a chequered time recently with a takeover by Fullers who subsequently sold out to global brewers Asahi. In due course production was moved from Sussex to Meantime in Greenwich. When that closed it moved again to Fullers in Chiswick.
Most recently it has been reduced in strength to 3.4%.
Since changes to duty rates last year brewing beer at 3.4% or less attracts less tax and hence has its attractions to the bottom lines of brewers. There are arguably two types of beer in this category. Beers that are actually brewed in the 3%+ area such as Redemption Trinity, Kernel Table Beer and Pressure Drop Ja. Hophead is the other side of that where an existing beer is reduced in strength.
The bottom line for the drinker however is what it tastes like. I had a pint of Hophead in the Morpeth Arms on Millbank on Thursday (a Youngs pub so it was reassuringly expensive). Actually it tasted notably like a pint of Hophead. Still hoppy, perhaps lacking a little in body, but that is subjective.
The main point I’d suggest is that in this case Big Beer in the form of Asahi is looking at its balance sheet where it could have reduced the price of a pint as well as its strength
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