Comments on: Back to Oxford

By: Kieran Haslett-Moore

Kieran Haslett-Moore — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 02:22:04 +0000

Nelson Sav can be overpowering if used without caution. Our local craft brewers are only just now starting to get the hang of it. This years Golden Ale from, Three Boys Brewery is a stunner.

Nelson Sav gives a fair bit of passionfruit, kiwi fruit and citrus as well.

By: Bailey

Bailey — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:58:09 +0000

Ed — I definitely wouldn’t recommend that you rename the beer “Old Cat’s Piss” or anything like that…

By: Zythophile

Zythophile — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:40:28 +0000

Ed – satisfying to see I can recognise the smell of a hop without even smelling it! I didn’t mean Nelson Sauvin smelled of cat’s piss, just that elderflowers have a smell like Sauvignon Blanc, and that smell has components of cat’s piss (and gooseberries, too, to most people). So if Nelson Sauvin smells like Sauvignon Blanc, it’s likely to smell like elderflowers too … though not necessarily with the cat’s piss element!

By: Ed Murray

Ed Murray — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:51:59 +0000

G’day chaps. Prospect does indeed contain Nelson Sauvin. I’m fairly sure about this as I make the beer and anyway it must be true because it said so in the Independent newspaper. There are are four hop varieties used in Prospect – 50% UK and 50% New Zealand. NS might be too much on its own but in combination with English Goldings I think it delivers a striking flavour and aroma. I have never quite noticed the smell of cat’s piss though. It strikes me more as grapefruit. Better try some more!

By: Bailey

Bailey — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 07:15:33 +0000

Thanks, Zythophile. We need to find one of those single variety beers to help us get our hands round Nelson Sauvin, I think.

Ant — we’ll add Aylesbury and the Hop Pole to our list of places to visit. As you might have noticed, we’ve been making an effort to get out and about and see more of the UK in the last year or so.

By: Zythophile

Zythophile — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:48:25 +0000

Elderflower – my guess would be Nelson Sauvin, the New Zealand hop so named because it supposedly has aromas like Sauvignon Blanc, which itself has been described as smelling like cat’s piss, and elderflowers can smell pretty ‘cat’s pissy’ too.

By: Ant

Ant — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:01:25 +0000

Great to see Vale brewery getting a nice write-up. They’re not far away from us here in Bucks, and their Aylesbury Pub – The Hop Pole – is a wondrous place. Hadda’s Winter Solstice is – as you’d guess – a seasonal. They have two wonderfully hoppy regulars in Gravitas and VPA. Both well worth hunting down.