Hargreaves Hill Fresh Hop Ale

With former Hargreaves Hill head brewer (and regular Crafty Pint blind tasting panellist) Glenn Harrison having upped sticks after six years to join Temple, the Yarra Valley brewery has brought in a replacement from just a few kilometres away. Kai Damberg joined Hargreaves recently from White Rabbit and was given free rein to design their 2014 fresh hop beer. The brewery secured some fresh Ella hop cones ' shipped directly from Tassie by Hop Products Australia on the day of harvest ' and decided to showcase it within an American-style wheat ale, using the mash tun as an impromptu hopback to extract as much of the hop's floral, spicy goodness as possible before embarking on some "dry wet hopping" in the bright beer tank. The results, says Kai, is "a soft rounded ale with a generous ABV that harmonises well with Ella's gentle-but-firm nature." He says to look out for "gentle aromas of melon, guava and berries that follow down through the glass, with apricot notes as the beer warms. A moderate bitterness balances the sweetness of the malted wheat and the body of Australian ale malt." What's more, a relatively high alcohol content "promotes the layered and subtle resinous fruit characters of wet hop Ella, carrying through the palate with a faint hint of anise near the finish." With an eloquent description like that, if things don't work out at Hargreaves, there may be a place for him at Crafty Towersâ?¦

Published April 23, 2014 2014-04-23 00:00:00