Goose Island Harvest Ale

Brewed by Goose Island Beer Company (AB-InBev)
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Chicago, Illinois USA

Serve in English pint

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Caramel and spiced dough aroma. Wildly carbonated. Orange color with frothy yellow head. Oft-bitter, earthy malt taste, kind of soapy. Tastes and feels lighter than expected: hollow almost. On the other hand, it’s very drinkable and refreshing.

12oz bottle from Spirits Brick. Poured a good looking clear sun-burnt orange body with light effervescene and a large thick foamy super light beige head. Aroma is blah, wet bread, dough, grains, honey topped bread and some grassy hops. Medium chewy body with strong carbonation that really makes itself known and a lingering tingle on your throat from the body rather than the alcohol. Flavor is pretty much the same as the aroma, grainy, breads and crusts and slight touch of sweetness like honey topped bread and maybe a hint of raisin. Solid beer but nothing to get excited about.

Rated 9/23. 12 oz bottle poured into a tumbler pint glass. A: Pours a chestnut-copper colored body with excellent clarity. The head is a two finger cream color with a nice-looking texture. Just a great looking beer in general. S: Caramel, toffee, along side touches of hazelnut and light piny hops. This features a very earthen aroma; not the biggest or boldest, but one that does its job admirably. T: Initially, the palate is woken up with a bright fig-like fruitiness before finishing with classic earthy, faintly piny hops. Caramel, cashew, and toffee malt flavors help round out both notes well enough on the mid-taste, striking a decent balance. The general focus here is on drinkability rather than complexity - it’s a beer that’s easy to drink and likable without wowing the taste buds. M: It’s quite a clean, dry beer on the finish, leaving little in the way of lingering flavors and helping its drinkability, while the carbonation doesn’t err too strongly one way or the other. Texture is nice, but the aforementioned finish is a hair too astringent. Otherwise, there’s little to complain about the general feel. O: The ABV keeps it out of sessioning range, but this is a good "pair with food" or "drink a six pack because you have nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon, damnit" kind of beer. Don’t expect anything mindblowing, but it’s incredibly solid nonetheless.

Hints of red and wheat color full off white head. Light grassy aroma odd sweet cough syruppy component ruined the beer for me.

Pleasant fall ale. Has slightly toasted nut, caramel, and sweet grapefruit hop notes. Flavors meld together and come off kind of muddy. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

20oz on tap. Great looking beer, burnt orange color, good lacing, hazy. Great aroma. As for taste, I wasn’t really impressed...it’s sort of a summer crisper and a winter warmer mashed up hybrid. As a "harvest ale" I think it fails, roundly, but as a hoppy dark ale, it survives, and works ok. It’s missing some complexity, but I like that it’s not "overspiced".

Tap at clubhouse. Pours light brown thin head. Malty aroma. Taste is slight sugar and wet hops

Bottle, pours dark orange rust, with a finger of white head. Nose is rich with earthy hops, a hint of citrus, some sharp spice. Nice orange notes on the tongue, very biscuity malts. Surprisingly long finish. Really nice.

Bottle. Pours a beautiful clear amber to copper body with a small fizzy off-white head that left some sporadic lacing. The nose shows a nice balance of floral hops and slightly sweet caramel malt. The flavor has a nice bright bitter hoppiness with a nice slightly sweet Oktoberfest like base. Lighter bodied with a slightly clingy body showing some lingering sweetness. Finishes pretty crisp and snappy for an ale. A nice easy drinker with enough hops to keep it lively.

on tap at giordano’s in chicago (10/8). listed as the seasonal on the menu. very hoppy taste and piney aromas. reminded me of an IPA lacking the malty flavors I expected.