AHS Rose Hip Honey Ale

So I just put in an order for several kits from Austin Homebrew. The other kits were pretty standard (but I will bet they will be great) including: stout, pale, porter, marzen and... a "Rose Hip Honey Ale."

This is a new kit and there are no reviews yet. It's described as "this golden ale will be low in residual sugars, this beer will have a crisp rose hip flavor." Link: AHS

Did anybody else order it?

It may be a few weeks but I will definitely post updates about this kit.

Thanks!

I'm brewing this now. Here's a pic of the rose hips. They smell good, floral and maybe a bit peppery. Not like perfume at all. This should be interesting and good.

Update: I brewed this all grain kit on 4/22/12, one week ago. Brewing was pretty straight forward, I do eBIAB and, as usual, my efficiency rang in at the mid 80s. I anticipated and increased the volume (adjusted hops, but did not have extra rose hips on hand).

I used Nottingham dry yeast and in seven days it dropped the OG from 1.050 to 1.009, right on target.

The sample was interesting...

You definitely get a bit of sour sharpness from the rose hips. That is the first and dominant flavor you will notice. I wish it had a bit more sweetness to balance that. I assumed that the honey would do that (it was my first time using honey) but I guess not. In stead I guess the honey just dried it out (I hit all of my temp and gravity targets). The color is a nice golden with hints of amber. It's still cloudy but I know it will clear up with time.

I fermented at a temp controlled 64F and tonight began dropping it to 37F for a few days. I'll keg later this week or weekend.

Check back for updates...

Kegged it yesterday and force carbed at 35psi for 30 minutes (a few shakes). Here's the first pint.

Awesome. Buy this kit (all grain).

Easy drinking. Great mouthfeel, creamy because of some wheat in the recipe. Low FG, tiny bit of astringency/citru from rose hips balanced by equally subtle sweetness from honey, otherwise pretty dry.

I brewed this a couple weeks ago and finally tasted it yesterday and today. I agree with much of what you said. There is a slight sourness from the rose hips that is delicious (almost wine like) but very slight. This beer is an easy drinker, nice and dry from the honey but good mouthfeel from the wheat. I fermented at 68-70 with WLP007, I tried to go cooler but my system was battling a heatwave.

Not much honey flavor for me either. I was disappointed with my first sip but thought it was delicious by the time I finished and the pint today was even better. It seems like a perfect summer beer.

Thanks for the tip on my recipe idea seatbelt. You mentioned a few times that the tartness of the rosehips was a little too strong. I'm hoping the fruity sweetness from my citra hops will balance that out. Just in case though... I may keep to just 1oz in the boil. If I dont get the desired effect, I can add some more to secondary.