Brewer’s Reserve April 2010 Release
EMERSON’S HARVEST Fresh Hop Ale
Available from the brewery shop and selected bars only.
It’s a brewer’s favourite time of year – the annual hop harvest! Each year we drop in on the innocent Nelson hop farmer and crawl around their hop vines and deliriously grovel around their drying kilns selecting hops for this beer (yes it’s probably an embarrassing sight to behold). It’s fantastic to be able to talk directly with the hop grower and sample and learn about the large number of New Zealand hop varieties.
Doug Donelan, NZ Hops Ltd, was instrumental in giving us the best possible visit we could ask for. We not only got to select the varieties but to choose from the actual farm and individual hop bale. The significance of this selection is amazing, there can be a huge variation amongst a single hop from one hop farm, it’s the blending process that smoothes these differences out. This was a real privilege for Emerson’s, thank you to all the hop growers and Doug for putting up with us in what is a very busy time.
Richard chose two stunning fresh hops – Pacifica and NZ Hallertau which were placed into the boil in huge quantities at the end of the boil.
Hoo boy…a subtle orangey hop aroma, reminiscence of Jaffa’s, appears on the nose. As the beer warms up, the maltiness becomes prominent with a lovely long lingering orangey bitter finish to balance. The hoppy flavour and bitterness grows on you. Perhaps you might become addicted to hops?
Cheers,
The Emerson Brewing Team
Original gravity:1056
Alcohol : 5.3% abv
Malts : Gladfields Pale, Pilsner, Carapils, Crystal
Hops : Super Alpha, NZ Hallertau and Pacifica
