Early Harvest Nelson Pale Ale
Hill Farmstead Brewery

A very vibrant pale beer, hazy yes but signs of clarity on the edges. Great head and retention with some very nice lacing. Hill Farmstead has consistently some of the best lacing beers I’ve had.

Aroma is best described as vibrant fruity to me. I’m not the best with fruit descriptors but I would say there’s something like a citrus type berry aroma, subtle white grape and subtle frankness as well.

The flavor shows the same citrus berry thing and the white grape too.

The mouthfeel is so soft and clean. It has a nice medium bitterness and finishes dry.

This beer is such a perfect pale ale, it’s drinkable, clean, complex yet simple at the same time. It’s a beautiful looking beer and it’s mouthfeel is really really pleasant.

11 days old. Standard hazy golden peach body. Crisp spicy herbal and tropical fruit. Smooth, fruity ester and light spice on the backend. Standard soft creamy body, so easy to drink with lots lingering on the backend.

 

 

Pours a very hazy pineapple color with a foamy white head that is Velcro clingy, a common attribute for H-F beers in my experience. The nose is dank, spicy, exotic citrus aromas, with pineapple and mango, lychee and white grape. Wow!

The lychee and white grape flavors are up front, providing a really dank, exotic flavor profile that is ubiquitous with Nelson Sauvin hops. The mouthfeel is fairly dry in this APA that is both exceptionally flavorful and refreshing at the same time.

What a magnificent beer from a world-class brewery.

Pours a hazy bright orange color. Nice two to three finger head settles on the beer dissipating until just a thin layer of foam is left behind. Lots of lacing coats the glass as the beer is consumed.

Aroma is incredibly bright and fresh. Notes of tropical fruit and/or juice dominate the nose with underlying notes of a certain grassiness or leafiness - green, comes to mind, but its essentially that fresh hop aroma you get in this type of beer.

Taste follows the nose with notes of dank tropical fruits, white grape with certain green or woodsy hop character. For as prominent as the hops are in this beer, there is almost no bitterness. Crackery malt backbone provides the palate for the hops to shine on.

Feel is light, super easy drinking, all in keeping with it being a pale ale. However, the hops are so fresh and big in this beer that it doesn't actually come across like a pale ale.

Overall its a delicious beer and a fantastic first impression from Hill Farmstead.

L: Straw haze with a billowing white head

S: big bouquet of stone and tropical fruits with a splash of spring flowers

T: So well balanced and ripe. Peach, pineapple and a tinge of lavendar

O: I really enjoyed this beer and having it within a half hour or Abner, I prefer this one... wasn't that close either.

 

Canned 8/18/20 and poured into a Tulip. Very attractive beer. Glowing yellowy orange with a finger of foamy head that hangs around for a while before leaving behind an impressive amount of lacing. Smell is of fresh hops with some citrus notes. Soft and smooth on the tongue. Goes down very cleanly, leaving behind the taste of those Nelson Sauvin hops. I'm not a massive fan of that hop taste, but that's all personal preference. Still a good beer.

 

L: Hazy yellow with creamy white head and good lacing.

S: Bright juicy citrus as well as sauvignon blanc. Very light bready malt aroma and some mild stone fruit esters.

T: Mild bitterness leads the way for very juicy citrus, papaya and sauvignon blanc hop flavor. The malt is very subtle and bready and the fermentation character is very clean.

F: Crisp, dry with a moderately full mouthfeel. Perfect for the style.

Overall: A delicious and uniquely flavored pale ale that is full of juicy hop flavors and aromas. Get it if you can!

 

 

 

poured from a 12oz can into a willi becher glass. pours a thick-looking, milky orange with a finger and a half of bright white head. smells so good. all that juicy, earthy, dank nelson hop character. beets and green onions. a little dirt. crazy aromatic for an APA. taste is similar with a tinge of maltiness to it that i did not expect. a good mix of juicy and earthy with that touch of malt and pretty much zero bitterness. feel is medium bodied. it’s very soft but finishes a little thin and watery. really my only complaint about this beer and it’s literally just on the backend. overall, another excellent nelson hopped beer from HF. incredibly drinkable and quite refreshing but also full of flavor. well done.

 

 

 

Canned 08/19/19, drink by 09/30/19 “EH Nelson”
This beer was the main reason I was excited to finally make it up to the brewery. Nelson Sauvin hops are my favorite varietal and to enjoy them in a new way? Sign me up. One would have to pair this side by side with a regularly harvested Nelson beer to truly discern the differences, but you get some of the “juvenile” hop aromas and flavors. Grassy, resinous, and nuanced overall. A subtle yet delicious beer. Has the smoothness and drinkability of all HF beers, that’s expected. Really cool to experience such a small change in a beer from one ingredient. The bartender did a great job of explaining the harvest differences when I had my growlers filled. Well done, Shaun!

This one pours a fairly hazy golden orange, with a small head, and lots of lacing.

This smells like spicy hops, grape, peach, citrus, and piney hops.

I really, really like this one. It's got a such a clean and exotic spicy hop flavor. it's bitter but not in an overwhelming way at all - super fresh. There's melon and light grape type flavors, some biscuity malt, clean pine, and lots of citrus rind.

This is light bodied, super drinkable, super crisp, and super clean. I could drink quite a bit of this.

I really like this one, and I really like the idea behind this mini-series of beers.