Beer: Founder's Harvest Ale
Brewery Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Beer Style: APA
ABV: 6.5%
It is that time of year for wet-hop beers. The hop harvest is usually taken in September, and then the hops are dried and pressed into pellet rabbit food looking form to preserve them for the year. Many brewers are now getting the hops straight from the hops fields and making beer from the fresh hops called "wet hop beer" or "harvest ale." The hop cones will have more fragrant oils and will impart different characteristics than the same dried hop variety will produce. Think about it like cooking a meal. If you make the same meal with fresh basil and made it with dried basil there is a noticeable difference in the end products. I am all for wet hop beers, and I was very excited when I picked up a four pack of this beer from Ben at Crown Liquors.
A very gentle pour produces a massive head that took a good five minutes to settle down before I could pour the rest of the beer into my pint glass. This golden yellow beer left sheets of lacing on the walls of my glass as well with staying power for the entire beer. The nose on this beer is hop oils all the way with varying scents of citrus and pine, and I also get more and more earthy undertones as the beer warmed. The flavor profile starts with a big rush of citrus flavor with bitter pine coming in quite quickly and just a touch of pale malt to balance out the hop flavors. The mouthfeel is slick and oily with medium carbonation with no alcohol present on the mouthfeel. The drinkability is very good on this beer and I probably could have killed my only four pack of this last night, but I am at least going to try to make them last through this month.
I thoroughly enjoyed this beer. I liked the "fresh" taste from this beer, and provided a different aspect to how hops can taste. There is significant bitterness on this beer, but it isn't like any other hopped beer you will taste and is a bit more gentle on the palate, and I've burned myself out on IPAs, but this was a welcome change. This beer was well balanced and quite a tasty treat. I would hunt this beer down in Indiana if you can find any out there right now.
Cheers!
Matt
Brewery Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Beer Style: APA
ABV: 6.5%
It is that time of year for wet-hop beers. The hop harvest is usually taken in September, and then the hops are dried and pressed into pellet rabbit food looking form to preserve them for the year. Many brewers are now getting the hops straight from the hops fields and making beer from the fresh hops called "wet hop beer" or "harvest ale." The hop cones will have more fragrant oils and will impart different characteristics than the same dried hop variety will produce. Think about it like cooking a meal. If you make the same meal with fresh basil and made it with dried basil there is a noticeable difference in the end products. I am all for wet hop beers, and I was very excited when I picked up a four pack of this beer from Ben at Crown Liquors.
A very gentle pour produces a massive head that took a good five minutes to settle down before I could pour the rest of the beer into my pint glass. This golden yellow beer left sheets of lacing on the walls of my glass as well with staying power for the entire beer. The nose on this beer is hop oils all the way with varying scents of citrus and pine, and I also get more and more earthy undertones as the beer warmed. The flavor profile starts with a big rush of citrus flavor with bitter pine coming in quite quickly and just a touch of pale malt to balance out the hop flavors. The mouthfeel is slick and oily with medium carbonation with no alcohol present on the mouthfeel. The drinkability is very good on this beer and I probably could have killed my only four pack of this last night, but I am at least going to try to make them last through this month.
I thoroughly enjoyed this beer. I liked the "fresh" taste from this beer, and provided a different aspect to how hops can taste. There is significant bitterness on this beer, but it isn't like any other hopped beer you will taste and is a bit more gentle on the palate, and I've burned myself out on IPAs, but this was a welcome change. This beer was well balanced and quite a tasty treat. I would hunt this beer down in Indiana if you can find any out there right now.
Cheers!
Matt
4 comments:
Hello Matt,
I really like your blog! I wanted to invite you to visit our website: http://www.thebeerinme.com/
where you can post a link to your blog (on our blog links section) if you're interested. We could also use someone with your experience as a member of our site. Hope to see you there! Cheers, Tbim
Hello the founders harvest i never ear about it bout i will look for some information concerning this blog thank you .
i love beer is my favourite drink and can drink it all the time nice flavor .
the founder harvest are the kings of beer so ale is not doubt that they really like beer.
Post a Comment