Wild Honey Authentic Ale
Nelson Brewing Company

 

 

 

355 ml can, as pictured.
Pours golden yellow color, slightly hazed, off white head with good retention and thin lace lines.
Smell of sweet malt and grassy hops, and of course honey.
A clean refreshing taste, flavor combination of light malt, hay-like hops, sweet but not overly so.
Mouth feel and body is on the thin side, but not in a bad way, light but not watery.
Light and easy to drink, especially in the summer heat.

 

Appearance: Amber/gold, crystal clear, some foam.

Smell: Heavy on the honey. Some hops.

Taste: A nice summer beer. Easy, drinkable and refreshing. Honey and a bit of bitterness. Somewhat metallic. No strong flavours. The honey is the most prominent.

Feel: A bit too thin. This is my only real complaint.

Overall: Not a bad beer. I wouldn't seek it out, but it's enjoyable.

 

 

 

 

 

This represents the best part of The CANQuest (TM) - CANadian beer in a CAN sent to me by a CANuck! BigBry and I have been trading for a while and I am always glad to receive and open one of his packages. This will be my first entry for New Beer (Super Bowl XLVI) Sunday.

From the CAN: "Organic/Biologique"; "Wild Honey Organic Ale is a light, malty beer brewed beyond Beelicious. Enjoy!"; "The Nelson Brewing Company is an all-organic craft brewery located in Nelson, B.C., the cultural and recreational heart of the West Kootenay region." Beelicious - ha!

The Crack & Glug was perfect, resulting in a finger of Frech Vanilla-colored head with modest retention. Color was a slightly hazy golden-yellow. Nose smelled of honey, sweet malt and grassy hops. It reminded me of being on a working farm in the summer and taking a deep breath. Mouthfeel was sort of thin, not outright watery, with a grassy sweetness on the tongue. Finish was pleasant, unobtrusive, but not very satisfying to this self-described hophead. A nice way to start the day, but not terribly sustaining.

Interesting to note....my can, as well as the one pictured, both show the alcohol to be 5%, where as on the Nelson, and BA website, this is listed as 4.5%.

A- Pours a hazy honeyed golden color, and while there appears to be a fairly heavy carbonation, it looks to be finely tuned. There isn't much of a head, so it doesn't settle much....it just becomes a thick ring around the glass, not much different than how it starts. The lacing is actually impressive, leaving behind a nice looking patchwork of stringy foam. Decent overall!

S- The aromas seem decently balanced, and is easy to identify. Sweet honey is immediately noticed right up front, followed by sweet malt goodness in the middle and the finish is comprised of subtle hop bitterness. Overall it isn't a stong smelling beer and the honey does linger throughout.

T- The flavors follow the aromas closely, however, the honey character is much more subdued and the bittering finish is much more prominent. There are some floral notes detected, which would be derived, I'm assuming from the wild nature of the honey being used in this one. Nice taste overall...well balanced!

M- This is light in body, but from what I understand, this is how the brewery wanted it. The carbonation isn't as dominant as it looks...well kind of...it is fine and explodes on the palate in a way to allow the bitter/honeyed quality to shine though.

O- I have to admit that when I first tried this beer, I didn't think it was a very good example of a honey ale, but after getting through the sixer, this being the last one, I quite like it, and think it moves well from sweet at the beginning to bitter/thirst quenching on the finish. I will pick this up again in the future and think it's a fine everyday ale!

Appearance. Pours a rich gold with a finger of bubbly, off-white head. A little chunky lacing.

Smell. Light notes of golden malt and a little fruity yeast and hops.

Taste. Toasty golden malt, a little grassy hops. Not getting much honey here.

Mouthfeel. Good carbonation and a nice light body.

Drinkability. A good drinker. Not especially interesting, but not too shabby.

355ml can - dumb apian pun, check.

This beer pours a slightly hazy, medium golden yellow colour, with two fat fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly off-white head, which leaves a large amount of coarse and sudsy lace around the glass as it lazily recedes.

It smells of plain grainy cereals, a touch of caramel, middling weedy, grassy hops, and a somewhat reserved earthy and honeyed fruitiness. The taste is still quite sweetly grainy, but moderated by a hard to miss stony metallic nature, a decent field honey fruitiness, and weak grassy, floral hops.

The carbonation is below average, and almost flat-seeming, save a softly trilling frothiness, the body an adequate medium weight, but a touch cloying in its quotidian smoothness. It finishes still good and sweet, though tamped down just a smidge by a lingering floral, musty character that could be evolving right in front of me (but still better than a frontal lobotomy).

For all the various and odd stuff going on in this beer, it's actually pretty easy to drink. Maybe that's the key with this one - don't think too hard about it, dummy - bee (!) smart, and just enjoy it, at least until that mostly unchecked sweetness catches up to you.

A three finger fine bubbly white head on a clear dark gold. Bubbly laing. The head diminishes to a layer but sticks around to the end.

A fresh, slightly fruity smell. Tastes of sweet mild malts. The honey is up front. A very mild hop finish.

A light body. Medium carbonation. Drinkability is very high.

Interesting take on an APA...with certified oraganic honey no less...the things bees are capable of these days.

Decent looking ale. Bright, clear darkish amber colour. Decent head albeit quite fizzy and only so-so retention.

Sharp toasted grain, some phenoylic vapours, floral clover honey.

Thin and slightly metallic grains, some nice bitterness toward the middle and back end. Honey certainly there towards middle/back. An annoying metallic twang lingers in the aftertaste.

Goes from fairly fizzy to fairly flattish. Medium light feel.

A so-so APA

355ml can poured into pint glass dec3 2009

A crystal clear golden yellow with little head or lace

S wheat and honey and not a whole lot else

T again very grainy with a fair bit of sweetness and something I just can't place

M heavy carbonation gives it a very light feel

D not a bad beer I guess it's just missing something

nothing offensive but nothing worth bragging about either, I suppose hippies and self conscience yuppies will drink it up thinking they are saving the world cause it's "organic" what ever that means

This beer was served on-tap at this weekend's North American Organic Brewers Festival, held in Portland, Oregon. It's not usually my MO to review from festival tastes, but as this my was first beer of the day on Saturday, my palate was clean and note-taking coherent, I decided this would be my one and only review. And when else am I going to taste anything from Nelson besides at a festival like this? A 12 oz. pour to a (compostable) clear tasting cup.

Program notes - ABV: 5.0% IBU: 29

A: Pour is a warm, light amber (honey-colored?), that has a faint haze. Rests under a dense foamy cloud of pure whiteness. Small flecks of lace left behind.

S: Very malty, like toasted bread crust and sweet cereal grains. There is a notable flowery honey note that accents the 'cereal' aroma - a little 'Grape Nuts' or bran flakes-like...

T: Malt hits upfront, with a toasty graininess coupled with mild honey sweetening (grassy and clover-like). Becomes abruptly more bitter as a firm hopping covers the sweetness with an herbal/medicinal greenness. As bittering wanes, some softer flowery sweetness returns.

M: Feels creamy and has a light-medium body. Carbonation is soft and a slight grainy texture remains throughout my mouth. 'Refreshing' but not entirely 'clean'.

D: A likable brew from Nelson, glad to have a chance to try it. If it were available here, I'd be happy to order another. The grainy flavors and discernible honey are nice features and the low ABV makes this session-worthy.

Slightly hazy pale orange colour with a thin, foamy white head. Lacing stands up across half the glass.

Lemon zest is first to be noted in the aroma, hinting towards citrusy hops. A sort of plant like sweetness supports it.

Honey is right up front in the flavour, and is notable throughout. Citrus hop finish that mixes in with a flowery flavour. Not bad.

Mouthfeel is a little thicker than most. The carbonation is lively enough without being sharp.

That flowery flavour isn't really to my liking, and limits how much I want to drink this one. It isn't bad, but one can will be enough.