AN Oxford estate could soon be the toast of the city after growing the vital ingredient for its very own beer.

Plot 16 – a 3.4 per cent alcohol ‘green’ ale – has been brewed using hops from the Lenthall Road allotments in Rose Hill and will soon be on sale.

And the limited edition ale, which comes in 33cl bottles, could be just the beginning as there are plans next year to install 20ft-high frame on the allotment to grow even more hops.

The beer is the brainchild of artists Leora Brook and Tiffany Black, as part of charity Modern Art Oxford’s Art in Rose Hill Scheme. The gallery hailed the £3.50 beer a work of art.

Ms Black said: “The place is new and old, the people and the plants all determine the links being made.

“The time, marked by the seasons, taken to work the land, to grow the hops, make the beer and develop the project into the year ahead is a wonderful thing.”

The artists devised the scheme after learning the gallery’s Pembroke Street building was a brewery in the 1800s.

After a communal hop picking session in September, the vital ingredients were sent to the Shotover Brewing Company, in Horspath, to be turned into beer.

Owner and head brewer Ed Murray said: “It was good fun to be able to brew the beer.

“Normally hops are dried out but these went in fresh, meaning we produced what is known as a green beer.

“We’re really pleased with it. The most notable thing will be the incredible aroma, which should be like shoving your nose in a bag of hops.”

The beer contains green hops, dried hops, malted barley, malted yeast and water and will be sold from the gallery from December 17. Proceeds will go to the Art in Rose Hill scheme.

Rose Hill resident Tim Walker, 42, of Asquith Road, said: “This is definitely a new one for Rose Hill.

“I think most people around here will be pleased with the new beer. It’s not everyday you can say your neighbourhood is helping to make real ale.”

Sarah Mossop, head of education at Modern Art Oxford, said: “The launch of Brook & Black’s beer comes more than 100 years after the last beer was produced at the gallery.

“It’s fantastic to have a project that results in a limited edition art work that can be consumed – very in keeping with the gallery’s aim of supporting innovative and exciting new works.”

Art in Rose Hill launched in 2007 and will finish next year.

Recent projects include film Deja Vu by artist Maria Pask, which featured residents acting out scenarios in the now defunct estatenewsletter Rose Hill Roundabout.