Sierra Nevada Harvest

Blind tasting at Papsoe. Clear amber colour with a huge head. Great aroma of hops, parfume and caramel. Flavour of hops, caramel little chocolate, very tasty and ends with a warm feeling from the alcohol.

2007 Harvest. Bottle, 24 oz., not super fresh, but not yet old. Huge delicious C-hop aroma, grapefruit and citrus all over the place, meaty caramel and earth with some rounded, bready funk. Pine and just a touch of musty stale tire air. Orange body, clear and graded, with a large soapy beige head. Taste is lightly bitter and just drenched with hops, even at the state of decay, thin caramel and cracker. Light-bodied and dry with some fruit on the side. Pine and light cask wood. Resin poking out only after volume, and strongly featured in the bone-dry aftertaste. Doesn’t quite hold up to the Dreadnaught I had the other night, but it’s still an impressively quaffable IPA. The usual, flawless SN fare. [3.8]
Fresh 2008 bottle. Whereas the three bottles of wet-hopped Founders I’ve had this week reveal that particular beer to have fallen back to earth, this year’s batch of SN confirms a winner! Drenched in hop oils and perfume (could use a bit more pine) and with some absolutely beautiful malt. Some new black pepper notes. Lovely head. Great, down-and-dirty, sweaty, musty hop funk! Super year. [4.3]

This copper ale poured with a nice beige head, eliciting a floral aroma. Initially tastes like raw hops, but the flavor settles into a grapefruit-tinged caramel malt. It’s a bit carbonated and quite refreshing.

Poured from bottle with a copper hue and off-white very frothy head. Aroma starts much like an IPA with big floral hop aroma which mellows the longer it’s open into a toasted piney odor. The taste is very strong floral hoppiness with a touch of pine and grapefruit. There is also a nice bit of malty caramel smoothness with a twinge of sweetness in the middle to balance the hops. This beer grows on you the more you taste - quite enjoyable.

Bottle at cgarvieuk’s splendid sunday sojourn. Clear copper with a thin off-white head. Nose is sweet and slightly funky with a slightly sour tint, ginger ale, Mouth is hoppy harsh but quite flamboyant, piney and woody.

Bottle at home with Tom and Royce... american hop ... sweet hoppy ale ... decent balance... and yup it is fresh ... little pine bitterness in linger ...

Pours a lightly hazy copper amber with a small off white head. Smells very fresh and crisp. Good dose of hops in the aroma, but not overwhelming. Some definite grapefruit and citrus fruits really show up as well, not much of a malt presence. This one is all juicy hops. The flavor is much the same. Big hops, but not over the top, with some malts finally pushing their way through for some balance. The citrus is there especially in the finish, with a slight bitter aftertaste. I really enjoyed the balance to this beer. It was very refreshing after a big gym workout.

This is interesting and actually quite enjoyable for me, considering that I don’t really care for IPA at all. Then, this seems a bit more like a double IPA in its strength and firm body, and I like double IPA much more than IPA for this reason. It is light copper with a big light tan head that lasts, is foamy, and leaves decent, foamy lace. Th aroma is, not suprisingly, very hoppy, with citrus, esp. grapefruit, but pine, lots of flowery elements, along with caramel, hints of grain and honey, etc. It tastes very hoppy and definitely on the bitter side, but it’s not too bitter while the bitterness is balanced with lots of complex malty and hoppy flavours, plus a firm body and sweetness from the higher alcohol and maltiness. It’s very enjoyable and interesting.