Sierra Nevada Harvest

Brewed by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Chico, California USA

bottle - pours dark copper with very slight haze and thin white head; big hop aromas are on the sweet side and a little grassy; lots of bitterness in the flavors and very dry at the finish; could use some more body and sweetness, but a decent effort

Deep amber ale, with nice off-white lacing. Aroma is grass and citrus. Flavor is herbal, nicely bitter, with a back end of sweetness and a clear grapefruit note. Finish is clearly bitter, reducing slightly to a fresh sweetness. Loving this one.

Pours red and clear with a white head. Great hop aroma with a hoppy finish and a smooth mouthfeel.

On tap... poured cloudy orange. Fresh hoppy & citrus aroma. Sharp, pine hops flavor. Finished as expected. Real nice all around.

This is a beer where favorable first impressions never last. I was initially caught by the lumpy and frumpy foam, with heavy curves like a furrowing brow plows 2 inches deep into the glass. The piercing clarity of the body, itself an oak wood color and practically a crimson red, gave me the added hint that this was a enigmatic brew. The aroma is considerably more cheerful in character, though. Fresh and hoppy, it alights from the grass like a doe in the field, with a creamy smell that makes think of springtime days. The fresh sweetness of lemonade, the pinching bitterness of grapejuice and a tinge of chlorine combine idyllic scenes of spring days with the more realistic saburban day spent at the public pool - both fond images. And like spring days, what is often a Wordsworthian romp in comfortable temperatures can turn into an unpleasant gale. That’s the Sierra Nevada’s Harvest Fresh taste. A thin watery palate, rough and tingling, a haunting aftertaste and one overpowering flavor of wood and furniture varnish. And I was having such fun, too.

A great IPA that pours a thick cloudy orange and leaves nice lacing along the glass. This one would have gotten a world class rating from me if the hops had one dominant flavor among them--citrusy, piney, or floral, but I think the "green hopping" style of this beer defied classification, and it drove me NUTS drinking this and trying to put my tongue on a particular flavor. Without one sticking out like in most IPA’s the flavor never really smacked my tongue with any force, but this beer is still very good and unfortunate that they don’t sell it in 6ers. At $6 it’s far too expensive to warrant purchasing often.

Poured with a nice floral head. Tasted hoppy with a nice citrus spicy crisp flavor. An enjoyable beer.

Bottle at Bishops Arms, Järntorget, Gothenburg. Dark orange color with an off-white head. Nice hoppy aroma with notes of toasted malt, caramel, citrus and sweet fruit. Hoppy, but very balanced and fresh taste, notes of toasted malt, caramel, chocolate/marzipan?, citrus, oranges and sweet fruitiness. Smooth and creamy mouthfeel. Great!