Eliot - Fresh Hop
Ex Novo Brewing

Had this beer in a can, don't remember where I purchased it or what year it was, but it was a while ago. I love fresh hop beer, but gave this one a lower rating than normal.

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a light to medium golden amber with a one finger whitehead with good retention and lacing. Aroma of caramel malt, citrus and piney hops, orange, grapefruit, pine and a touch of dankness. Flavor is lightly caramel malt, piney and citrus hops, pine, grapefruit and lemon; light dankness and floral notes. Solid and satisfying pine resin and citrus rind bitterness in the finish. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. A very nice fresh hop IPA with solid West Coast character of pine and citrus. Quite forward bitterness; more than expected in a fresh hop ale and very appreciated. The label stated that the hop variety would be printed on the bottom of the can, but there was only a date. I'm guessing Centennial, but it could have other West Coast style hops mixed in. Very nice and good hop botanicals.

draught
Medium amount of frothy, ivory head. A little cloudy, medium light orange and amber appearance. Inviting and kind of heady, pine, tangelo/grapefruit peel , with medium toasted, caramel malt aroma. Crisp, grapefruit peel, and a touch of herbal grassiness, on an ample, medium toasted malt foundation, with the citrus bite being moderate, and fades away, during the finish, even though the flavors continue to the end.

Nice looking pour- light head, sticky lacing. Nose is floral and light fruit notes - like fresh red grapes. We don't have the regular Eliot to compare as a baseline. It must be pretty high class as the fresh hop version is delicious. Plenty of flavor, balanced ABV, great body, not overly dry.

A very leafy green, piney, cannabis, musky, floral bouquet, just a perfect touch of malt to balance the bitters. Overall, perfectly balanced and nothing out of place, I’d drink this every harvest, highly recommended!

Had on tap. Lightly cloudy yellow body with a white head, visible carbonation. Fresh citrus with weedy and piney hops lead both the smell and taste. Taste has some clementine and flowers added, smell has flowers. Can just chew on those hops in the taste and feel, love that. Otherwise fresh, appropriately bitter and dank. Happy I was visiting during fresh hop season

*2022 Strata Version
Awesome is all I can say, I won't bore with my usual long-winded review but this is delicious and what I look for in a fresh hop beer. A great start[er] to the '22 Season and highly recommended

*2021 Centennial version:
Look: Opaque light orange with a frothy head that forms a nice lid and slowly recedes, leaving sticky lacing behind
Aroma: Cut grass, rose petals and hips, light citrus notes, floral notes, bready and sweet malt, and raw/fresh hops
Taste: Grass and roses hit first along with some floral notes before an onslaught of green/wet hops along with some citrus. These all dance for a bit before grass, rose, and flowers regain strength and lead to the finish, along with a nice bite
Mouthfeel: Full, a little slick, medium-high carbonation, and moderate dryness on the finish
Overall: This is outstanding stuff and one of my favorite fresh hop beers every year. A great use and showcase of Centennial hops that really highlights the grassy and floral aspects of not only the varietal, but fresh hops in general. Along with a solid malt base and great mouthfeel, it’s hard to find a flaw – a great way to get me stoked for this now-uopn-us fresh hop season too as this is always the first version since Centennials are an early-ripening variety

16 ounce can poured into a pint hydro flask.

Head is brilliant white, enthusiastically foamy, and falls to a stable cushion which retains throughout the drink shortly after pouring.

Smells of fir needles and bitter citrus pith.

The mouthfeel is soft, dry and leaves you not even wanting to put the glass down between sips.

The flavor is initially piney, resinous, and finishes with a grapefruit pith/blood orange rind citrus note.

How lucky are we out in the PNW to have access to fresh hop beers in the local grocery store??

Ex Novo is my favorite overall brewery because they nail any style they tackle without fear or complacency to be pigeonholed. This fresh Hop IPA is the best I've had in 2021 (Breakside was quite good, I did not care for Occidental) and if you have an opportunity to try it you really should.

2021 - Strata

 

I really believe this one can be among the winners of fresh hop 2021. It has that "Quintessential FreshHop mouth feel and finish" that you think of when you enjoy this style. I've never been more proud to say that Ex Novo is my early winner, in the battle of the NW FreshHop contest. Enjoy with responsibly, CHEERS!

-The Beer Prodigy

2021-08-28
16oz can served in something between a wineglass and a teku. Stamped Goschie Centennial 08/16/21. Ordered online from the brewery and delivered to my house in Washington.

Pours a slightly hazy golden yellow with a medium sized head that fades into a set of concentric creamy rings. Smell is hop resin and honeysuckle.

Taste is satisfyingly fresh hops. Green, resinous, floral, some citrus, moderate bitterness, some honey and/or honeysuckle.

Mouthfeel is light, clean, refreshing. Overall...very good.

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2021-09-08
16oz can served in a stemless angular wineglass. Dated 08/30/21. Stamped SODBUSTER SIMCOE. Bought it today at Ridgewood Bottle & Taproom.

Smell is more honeysuckle and grain with a little lemon. Taste is piney and resinous and the honeysuckle still comes through. More fresh-hop forward, and growing on me. Bitterness keeps on building. Mouthfeel is light and clean. Overall...very good...not totally sure if I like it better than the Centennial.

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2024-10-21
16oz can served in a curvy Monhegan pint glass. Can is dated 08/19/24. Bought it at Full Throttle Bottles a couple days ago. Has a nice bite, very citrusy, lots of resin bitterness. Still tasty.

2021 centennial version.

Fresh hop character in spades, juicy, pulpy bitter orange. Waves of oily hops, gorgeous fresh hop flavor all carried on that creamy fresh hop mouthfeel.

2021 Centennial edition.
purchased from Westside Taphouse for the great price of $13 per 4 pack ( 16 oz)
slightly hazy light golden coloured body with a lovely frothy/bubbly off white head.
Aromas of citrus and ,malts..mainly lime zest and tangerine Very nice.
Taste similar..but a bit more light caramel from the malts..but really its leafy green fresh hops all the way.
Great drinkable mouth feel. ..well balanced and very quaffable indeed.
A great beer.

Eliot fresh hop 2020, with strata.

From the fields to my glass in under two weeks. I love it.

The aroma makes me think of smelling hop pellets, that fresh and vibrant, somewhat grassy green vegetal olfactory punch. I keep checking my glass to see if there’s any lupulin powder on it. Delicate, but it makes its presence known. It’s on the sip as well, with a clean finish on the end. I can’t get enough. Truly a fantastic beer, it elevates the base beer and then some.

Thanks to John_M for this one. 2020 Centennial version. 16oz can (dated 8/21/20) poured into 14oz teku. Poured a lightly cloudy dark yellow color with an inch of white head that had moderate retention and lacing.

A ton of big, bright, bold citrusy hops jumped out of both the can and the glass. Just a hint of grain in the background.

Fairly similar on the tongue; just enough malt for a base, but hop dominant, surely. Almost like Centennial juice.

The body was bright, crisp, smooth, and had a dryish finish.

Drinkability was excellent, the kind of IPA that should be held up as an example of what an IPA is.

Overall, a very, very good brew. A must-try if you get the chance.

 

 

 

Crisp lemon rinds, sweet marmalade, fresh cut raw grass with little the dirt-covered root in tow, and faint oven-baked biscuits compose the aromatic character of this brew. There's a little bit of white grape and melon-like character as well that slowly develops toward the back end, but that earthy raw lemon-y centennial is pretty much the head honcho here, and there's no indication that it's not here to stay.

A similar story unfolds on the palate. Orange jam, laced with lemon rinds, sitting on top of a thinly spread out saucer plate of grass jelly, with a side of whole-grain biscuits would probably be the rough equivalent of this beer in culinary terms. The grass jelly and the lemon rind are particularly persistent and remain with you until you take another sip out of the glass.

Though Eliot IPA self-identifies as a NW IPA according to the can, there is a slight hint of malt toward the finish which I personally think is preferable to not having any at all; the brew can't be categorized as much other than being crisp and refreshing, while sporting a medium-light body and lively carbonation throughout the drinking experience.