“The Harvest has been hopped to the hilt using fresh hop cones straight from the nearby Rostrevor hop garden. The variety of hops are unique to the gardens research block. This variety was selected for “The Harvest” due to its big orange and citrus aromas, with the fresh cones being added in the kettle as well as in the conditioning tank. As for how the hop characters translate into the beer, well open it and find out!”
Two new Aussie hops are being used in this years addition to Bridge road brewer’s ‘fresh hop harvest’ series. Served in a shaker glass the cloudy straw-gold pour produced a big bubbly 2 and a half finger crown that settles to about 5-6mm of foam on top. Good head retention, drawing some healthy lace trails as we imbibe. The aroma is dominated by the huge hop profile so there are big helpings of pine, citrus fruits, orange blossom, freshly cut grass and lemon. A soft malt backing is quiet but it’s there to be picked up. In the mouth it’s a touch too thin and highly carbonated with an aggressive hop bitterness throughout. Medium bodied. A slight malt presence does try to counteract the big hop content in the mid-palate but the strident doses of pine and grassy notes that accentuate the dominant hops leave the beer highly unbalanced. Extremely dry, bitter finish. Quite a low ABV too (4.4%). Essentially, a bit too hop-charged with no back up. To be honest, they’ve done better.