Hedgerow Bitter
Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States 🇺🇸
Bitter - ESB / Strong Bitter Regular Out of Production|
Score
6.64
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That blunt the sugars, try to bite..."
This is our first properly-hoppy beer. We wanted a beer that was dry and bitter, and that’s what we got. 5.4% abv with all UK grown hedgerow variety hops: Pioneer, First Gold and Sovereign.
You know what? If you think you like hoppy beers, this might surprise you. It’s a different kind of bitterness to US hops. These hops are leafy weeds, very bitter and less aromatic.
We love it!
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Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9
Notes from January 2011 4.07/5 rDev +8.8% look: 3.5 - smell: 4 - taste: 4 - feel: 4 - overall: 4.5 $6 half growler from Whole Foods. A hazy pale, yellow & tarnished. Whitewash head. A bit mossy & shrubby & quite potent. Potent bushels of bushes. Sweet smelling like pears & toasted cereal. Lightly sweet, crusty bread & a bitterness that you kind of get when chewing on an inedible part of a vegetable. Bit of sharpness before that bitterness. Finish is bitter & briny like a mouth rinsed in seawater. Quite lingering. Body is light & easy, with a fair amount of carbonation. Alcohol is moderate, maybe even a bit strong for whatever Pretty Things is attempting here. Does anyone else think Beck's when drinking this? Or maybe when it seemed tolerable 10+ years ago? Just a little sweeter.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Draught at Deep Ellum, 2010.
Mostly clear, lemon-brass-golden with some light amber hues. Fluffy white head showing modest retention, atop.
Nose is full of bitter herbs, yellow fruits galore, vegetal notes and plentiful grass and pepper. Malts show white bread and light honey, balancing the hops gently while still leaving it quite hop-forward. No alcohol or flaw. Not resinous but definitely some spruce and bitter herb-like character lingering on.
In the mouth it's soft and supple, with good attenuation and strong malt notes of white dough, biscuit and honey. No heavy bread, sourdough or caramel, thankfully and the hops range from heavily yellow fruit-laden to strongly herbal and heavily grassy. Bitterness is firm but not overdone and I think, mostly on account of the supple yet not overbearing malt, this one was a big success. Moderate, engaging carbonation and no alcohol or flaw.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
22oz bottle shared with my wife on 7th May 2016 in the Encinitas Ale House. Sadly this was well out of date when I had this. Deep Amber bodied beer, poured for some reason into those lovely Kasteel glasses. Hoppy and musty in equal measures in the nose, nice balance in the taste, but again musty esters ruined the moment. Scored objectively.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Draft served in a standard shaker. Amber color with solid white head. Aroma is what a ESB should be, English malts with traces of toffee and light citrus or fruit.
I normally don’t go after this style but I enjoy this brewery so... Why not? Spot on for the style with a slightly hopper flavor profile. Earthy English toffee that leads into some grassy hops in the finish. The balance is real nice malt to hop ratio. Very easy to drink on a scorching hot September afternoon in Boston. Well made for the style!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
0.65 bottle from De Molen beer shop shared with Inbreak @ Train to Leiden. A really lovely looking head on this. Fantastic lacings, white in color and fluffy in texture. This on top of a near clear dark golden body. Subtle and mild grassy nose on this. Some nice mild sweetness as well with hints if grains and fruits. It tastes pretty mild also, but it's one of those not to boring bitters this. It has a really good grassy punch in the taste, some rhubarb and red currants . About average+ on the carbonation and light oily on the mouthfeel. Can give it credit for a for a really good grassy burp. I kinda like this. A good train trip back to the hotel after Borefts. 28.09.2013
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5
28.09.2013, 0,65l bottle (bottled august 2010, 1st batch) shared with Palme @ train from Bodegraven to Leiden:
Big slightly bubbly longlasting head. Aroma is slightly sweet grainy, wet grain, dried fruits, hay, sugar, grass. Taste is slightly dry grassy, light malts, hay, grass, wet grain, herbs, cardboard, weeds. Longlasting bitterness, dry mouthfeel. Pretty boring, definitely a old bottle if the labelling is correct.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
22oz bottle-shared by jtclockwork-tight foamy offwhite-hazy gold. A-citrus-lemon, lt/med malt-bready. T-citrus rind, drying, lt/med malt-bready.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Bottle. Pours cloudy apricot gold with a white head. Nose/taste of sweet malt, dry bread, lemon, toasted grain, dried apricot pit and mild spice. Nose has some hints of apple core - not noticeable in taste. Medium body.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
Bottle at Nikki and Andre’s wedding, CT. Shame a good bit of the bottle spilled after some dude knocked it over. Never the less, what I had was very good. Plenty of earthy hops throughout, light toasty bread, light to medium sweetness, dirt, faint dry caramel. Light to medium bodied with creamy carbonation. Good balance to finish, moderate bitterness of earth, light leaves, toast. Solid. Nails the style.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Clear amber colour, beige head. Aroma of caramel, malts, red fruits, oranges and light chlorine. Bitter flavour, quite malty. Quite dry. Finish malty sweet, pronounced bitter tones and orange marmelade.
(From 66cl bottle shared @ ZZT IV)