Grand Union One Hop: Agate

(RETIRED)

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Formerly brewed at Grand Union
Style: Bitter
Hayes, England

Serve in English pint

bottling
unknown

on tap
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distribution
unknown

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RATINGS: 4 MEAN: 2.83/5.0 WEIGHTED AVG: 2.8 EST. CALORIES: 135 ABV: 4.5%

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COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION
Cask; Special (One Hop series) - December 2004. Austraian Agate hop variety.
Each beer features a single variety of hop from around the world. Every beer in the series undergoes five separate additions of the particular hop into the brew kettle. Whole hops are then added to the “hopback”, in which the hot brew passes on its way to the fermenter. All the beers will have the same degree of hoppy bitterness, and drinkers are able to compare the aroma, flavour, and pleasing aftertaste of each of the varieties. Instead of using specialty malts that might mask the flavour of the hop, only Maris Otter pale malt is used. Maris Otter is the finest strain of malt available. With only pale malt used, there is little to come between the hop lover and the hop.
Pleasant strong hoppy nose, intense resin-like hoppy flavour with big bitterness. Brewed using experimental hops only grown on one farm in Australia.

AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20

duff (5483) - St, Margarets, - FEB 6, 2005

Cask@The Wenlock Arms, London. Agate was a hop i had never heard of before, but as soon as i smelt and tasted this beer, i new that the hop must be an extremely close relative to the Pride of Ringwood (a hop that i’m generally not keen on). Quite dry, with a slight rusty/metallic bitterness, some nice kiwi fruit edges and perhaps some gooseberry, slightly rough bitterness, the kind you find in most beers which use Pride of Ringwood hops. Very similiar to Nail Ale from Western Australia. And like Nail Ale, i thought this wasn’t too bad.

3.6

AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20

chriso (7065) - London, Greater London, ENGLAND - MAY 22, 2005

Not being too well acquainted with the beer scene in the land down under, I was somewhat at a loss to understand that dark mutterings about Pride of Ringwood from my antipodean accomplices. And since most of the Aussie industrial brews I’ve tried seem to have virtually no hop presence whatsoever, its a bit difficult for me to make the PoR comparison. But I thought this was a pretty interesting beer. Grassy, herbal and citric (grapefruit). I could swear I got some eucalyptus to but that might just have been the Aussie theme playing on my subconscious. This isn’t all about the hops - there’s a soft malt backbone too. Clean and fresh, becoming dry (tending towards the astringent) on the finish. Cask (handpump), Wenlock Arms , February 2005.

2.9

AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 11/20

kook (2033) - Perth, Western Australia, AUSTRALIA - FEB 6, 2005

UPDATED: FEB 12, 2005 Mild grassy aroma, with some very interesting fruity notes. Gold with a white head. Sweet clean malty start with a fruity mid and finish. Nice citric notes, however the aftertaste is slightly metallic and harsh. I suspect Agate is POR or Tasmanian Super Alpha renamed. As duff notes, very similar in flavour to Nail ale, however with a lovely malt flavour from the marris otter.

1.8

AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 3/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 5/20

Joeh (2036) - Buckinghamshire, ENGLAND - FEB 3, 2005

UPDATED: JUN 10, 2006 Cask at the Wenlock Arms, not too far from Old Street station, London.. With Chris_o, joet, Duff & Kook. Aroma is sweet and hoppy. Flavour is crude, unpleasent bitterness. Not at all good, and a fresh cask aswell! Edit: Nice that the brewer cares what I think.

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