Nelson Single Hop Pale Ale
Hill Farmstead Brewery in Greensboro, Vermont, United States 🇺🇸
Pale Ale - New England / Hazy Series|
Score
8.01
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Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9
Can via the brewery. It pours cloudy bright yellow - gold with a decent white head. The aroma is fresh and vibrant, touch green, weedy, dank, fresh pine, some green fruits, light melon, tangy citrus, orange marmalade, pomelo, apricot and brioche action. The taste is firmly dry, pleasing bitterness which lingers, farmhouse bread loaf, vibrant greenness, dank, weedy, bong rips, hint of mint in there, pine needles, hint of spice, resin, pithy, zesty, orange peel, tangerine, marmalade, touch of pomelo, apricot, farmhouse bread and orange blossom with a drying finish. Medium body and moderate, massaging carbonation. Exceptional. Fresh, bright, green and fruity. Flavourful and exquisite balance. Love it.
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Can (6/22/21) pour. It's a cloudy pale yellow with nice sparkle, finger-plus width white foamy head with excellent retention and nice spotty lacing. Aroma is strong grape, melon. Taste is strong white grape, biscuit backbone. Mouthfeel is light-to-medium bodied with smooth texture, average carbonation and crisp finish as taste with yeast. Overall, strong aroma and flavor but not terribly complex and maybe didn't get everything out of the hop.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Tasting at Salesforce, can, simply called "Nelson"
Murky pale blond colour. Wow, that's a pungent Nelson aroma as I haven't had in a long time. Crisp mouthfeel, a bit chalky, but with excellent hop expression.
Excellent.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Small can at SalesForce. Appearance: murky blonde with a white head Aroma: very grassy. Taste: quite smooth, but still quite grassy. Overall: ok, very light body.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Can. Pale and hazy. Thin head. Toasty aroma, with a big nelson aroma, and some melon. On the aroma, it has a nice nelson sauvin taste, sweet pale malt, the usual excellent malt character from this brewery. Good balance. Solid brew, with a nice bit of bitterness to lend balance.
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Can from the source. Murky pale yellow color white head with solid lacing. Floral white wine aroma. Taste is fruity white wine. One of the better expressions of this hop I've had.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
Draft: Poured a yellow straw with white head. Aroma is super nice hops nose. Taste nice mix of citrus fruit hops.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Shared at the 10th Annual Epic & Unusual Beer Tasting, 11/29/15. Slightly hazy pale amber, medium creamy tan head, good retention. Aroma of tropical hops and mild pine. The taste is tropical, herbal, citrus, hops, pale malt.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle @ MrOrla and ShaunHill reconnects, Growler. Thanks guys. Pours hazy yellow with a creamy egg white head. Nose is dammn near out of this world. Canabis, petroleum, grass and grapefruit. Juicy and dry bitter finish!
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 10 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9.5
750mL growler filled 7/24/15 and drunk 8/3/15.
Was worried that, despite having kept this in a very cold fridge for 9 days, since it wasn’t counter-pressure filled, it might not be in prime condition. Wrong. The appearance and mouthfeel/texture were still the same exquisite experience you know and love from Hill Farmstead. Huge, rocky white head tops a lightly hazy blonde beer with ample, fine carbonation. Tight carbonation engages the mouth and proves crisp while at the same time making for a supple, nearly creamy texture.
And the aroma. Dear God. If this isn’t the epitome of what nelson sauvin should be, I don’t know what is. Meyer lemon, dry pineapple, juicy nectarine and even somewhat reminiscent of a rich, mineral laden chardonnay champagne. Beyond clean and flawlessly executed. Let’s see, there’s no: Resin, aspirin, pine, heavy acidity, dirt, dishwater, astringency, blandness, cat piss, cheese, onion. Just a beautifully made APA with a gentle honey-like maltiness backing the hops. Snappy, bright and infinitely aromatic with no alcohol whatsoever.
Unsurprisingly, the flavor is just wonderfully hoppy, clean and perfectly balanced. Bright, clean, apricot-lemon flavors abound, with light tangerine, bits of dry hay and tart nectarine notes on the finish. Malt is soft, supple and provides just enough sweetness/texture to balance the hop bitterness without adding anything more. Honey, light grains and more fruity hop notes with warming. Unbelievably drinkable. Could nearly chug a liter of this without feeling fatigued/full.
This is about as good as it gets and we are definitely in the "If I’m not giving this a 5.0, what are my reasons??" territory. Because this is just so elegantly presented and clean and a statement of balance. I suppose the aroma could be a bit more full and juicy, though it’s easily a 9.5 here. And I guess, objectively, as has been shown, hops build off each other, so I could imagine adding another hop for just a bit more complexity. But these are nitpicks; this is pretty close to perfection. Much like Treehouse Tornado, my previously highest rated APA, I could easily understand a perfect 5.0 score without batting an eyelash. As is, I’m not giving it a 5.0 but certainly will reserve the right to do so as soon as I can get more of this to try again.