To add to the debate, my bees are currently working michaelmas daisy,
what I think is what you call aster. It is always the same every year.
At this time my whole garden smells of the stuff and it is not at all
pleasant.
 
We have only very little golden rod, whatever grows in people's gardens,
and it finishes before the michaelmas really gets going. By contrast my
area is next to some old marsh land which is a conserved area. It is
covered with the michaelmas daisy. So in my case I can attribute the
smell to that.
 
It is a god send at this time of the year too as the bees will bring in
pollen and stores from it ready for winter. Next thing is ivy.
 
On another point relating to odours. Andy Nachbaur mentioned extracting
mint honey and the smell lingering for a long time afterwards in the
honey house. This year my father, and others in his area, have had an
unusual amount of a very dark, ruby red honey that smells like old
josticks and damp basements (my opinion only). It also has a taste that
stays in the mouth for a long time after eating it. It taints the wax
which is a greenish yellow colour on those frames, and when we melted
down the wax it smells really strongly, just like the honey.
 
We believe it to be from the Himalayan Balsam which is colonising vast
areas, especially by rivers, in his area. The flowers do smell exactly
as the honey tastes and smells. But this flower has been around in this
area for many years now, and never produced this result in the hives, so
why now? Guess it is just a good year for balsam.
 
Madeleine Pym, London