Hales OBriens Harvest Ale

Pour is almost opaquely hazed amber with a thin tan head...smell is hoppy with lots of grapefruit and hints of bread behind it...taste is sharply bitter hoppy up front with sweet citric notes rounding out the flavor...quick sweet finish...

Barrel Draught from the jug at the GABF, Colorado Convention Center 30/09/2005 Golden amber coloured and hoppy. Very bitter lasting finish.

(12 oz bottle: Obtained in trade with Larry Pitonka, thanks André!) With just one small sip, the sharply bitter, acidic, grapefruity hoppiness has put my tongue in shackles, probably for the rest of the night. Wow, this is a very hoppy beer. A few more sips, and my palate has finally adjusted, or perhaps more accurately, surrendered to the hop onslaught. Fairly sweet, caramely malts try to play catch-up now, but can’t fully break through, remaining in the background. The sensation of alcohol further adds to the intensity on the palate from the hops. A bit more balance in the nose, with the hops not being quite so aggressive here, allowing lightly sweet malt aromas to come through. Medium bodied and well carbonated, but quite crisp from all the hops. The beer is quite a lovely deep ruddy amber color and only slightly hazy. Sizeable off-white head gradually settles to a filmy layer, but leaves a delicate doily of lace on the glass. I can see how hopheads might love this beer, but I need more malt to balance this bad boy out.

Pours a reddish brown. Nice hop/malts aroma. Nice hoppy flavor with hints of fruit and caramel.

On Tap at Flyers. Deep amber beer with a thick off-white head. Sweet citrusy hop aroma, bready malt aroma as well. Flavour is quite sweet, fruity hops and fruity yeastiness as well. Hops are citrusy and slightly tropical with a light resiny note. Tasty brew.

There should be a separate draft and bottle entry for this beer; they are very different. My numerical scores are for the draft rating; I’ll talk about my bottle experience as well. On draft, it had a nice brown color with small head. It had a nice balanced aroma, though not very much of one. I found the taste to be very interesting and balanced. It had some sweet hints, almost like a wheat beer, and some bitter ones as well. It was very enjoyable. So I bought a 6-pack at the store and had one a few days later. What a disappointment. All the balance was gone, and it was just bland and bitter. I poured it out. Get this one on draft if you can!

POurs a clear dark amber color, small white head. Aroma of oranges, malty, and musty. Flavor is undercarbonated, sweet, caramel apple, bitter with booze.

Bottle poured a clear reddish copper with a small amber head. Aromas of pine, citrus, carmel, and a hint of tobacco. Palate was medium bodied. Flavors of carmel, wet cardboard, grapefruit rind, with a semi-dry bitter finish.