Sierra Nevada Harvest

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

2007 Harvest, big ass 24oz bottle. Is this the first year they bottled? Clear orange copper with a two finger creamy off-white head, great lacing and retention. Spicy piney hops with some floral notes front the underlying sweet caramel malts. Not magnificently complex, but so far so good. The aroma has a fresh hoppy sweetness just as I stick my nose in the glass as I’m taking a drink (this bumped the aroma up to an 8). Can definitely notice the freshness in the flavor. It seems there’s an added herbal and earthiness--I can’t really explain it other than that. Fairly bitter--peaks at a 6-7 out of 10 at the back corners of my tongue. Alcohol is detectable, just barely. Moderate carbonation with a medium creamy body. Great beer--I’m only sad that it will deteriorate from here on out.

Pours a clean crisp copper with a two finger creamy off white head. The nose is extremely fresh hops, man you can smell those hop buds, sweet, citrusy, resiny. The flavor is strong waxy resiny hops, very fresh hops here too. Citrus peel, very spicy hops, crisp, carbonated mouthfeel, waxy lasting finish. Very enjoyable ipa.

Bottle. Pours amber in color with a foamy off-white head. Piney hoppy aroma with grapefruit and citrus notes. Flavor is hoppy and slightly bitter with pine resin, grapefruit, caramel and has a nice balance of swet malts with a bold and hoppy finish.

24 oz, 11th edition-2007. Clear amber-orange with a huge sticky head that lasts; frosting everywhere. Initial aroma is nothing but fresh herb-citrus hop, but some rich sweet caramel peeks through later. Flavors of orange, honey, resin, grapefruit, granola cereal, bittersweet grasses. Wow - the light-medium body is oily and just about the smoothest ever. Surprisingly not very tingly or dry. Even though you can really taste the overboard hops, this beer has no harshness and somehow almost seems in balance.

Bottle sampled. Pours amber with a large off-white head. Aroma of hops, citrus, floral, and caramel. The flavor is caramel, citrusy floral hops, and fruit. Good body, good brew.

Clear coppery pour with a fluffy white head that disapated quickly, leaving some lace. The nose is all PNW hopping. First taste reveals caramel/toffee malt base with some bright "green" hoppiness, citrus (grapefruit) and pine. The palet is smooth and easy-drinking. This is not a complicated beer...just one that you can repeat over and over and over!

24 Oz 2007 Bottle. Musky, pungent aroma, dank with cold lemongrass soup, spiced tea, and waxy hop resins. Subdued and wet. Pours a clear, standard amber, rimmed with rocky and separating maple foam. Flavor rushes into a much more delicate and explosive flavor profile. Rich grasses, sweet pines, and fragrant, burgeoning citrus rinds, and candied flower heads. Sweet, sticky, and round. Light peppery bouquet. Malt works in nicely, with some toothy Munich caramels, lightly toasted seeds, and washing, warm bready sugars. Clean, with bits of mineral residue. Back end holds a more bitter tendency, but bright with Meyer lemon reduction, candied lavender and a brief interlude of higher, soapy alcohols. Sprightly, fresh and balanced. Aroma weighed down from the wet hops, I’m imagining, but the flavor expectedly delightful. Maybe a nip thin for an IPA, but yet so drinkable.

Copper light orange with an off white head, sticky, spotty lacing. Aroma is spicy, herbal hops, caramel, body is there but light. Taste is caramel, fruity, nicely bitter even hops, herbal and spicy.