Sierra Nevada Harvest

Wet Hop Ale

12^th Release

6.8 percent ABV

Sampled: Nov. 30, 2008

The dry and wet hope are such amazingly different creatures. Just by presenting a key ingredient in a just –off-the vine manner, the makeup of the beer alters drastically.

Harvest produce the most flowery hop bouquet, but with a fresh twist – wet hopes imbue an oiliness and grassiness to the flavor, with darts of spearmint throughout. In essence, the drinker’s nose is one step removed from the ripened vine.

The body has a mix of lemon zestiness, burnt oranginess and grapefruit tartness, each claiming their moments of prominence. Sierra Nevada succeeds at getting those to flow into each other without any awkward twists.

As in past editions, the copious amounts of fresh hops give this ale a hop assault found in much stronger IPAs.

Usually I have little patience for American IPAs and their stifling hop contents, but in Harvest, the overabundance works. The facets emerging due to fresh hops round out that massive presence.

Besides, you don’t drink a fresh hop ale to rave about the malt breakdown.

Just coming off a cold, I can’t breakdown what flowers and herbs emerge from the nose. Harvest overwhelms in that regard. But I won’t complain. Sierra Nevada only produces it once a year, and whining would just mean waiting for the 2009 edition.

Rating 8.5/10