Big Al Fresh Hop Harvest Ale

Brewed by Big Al Brewing
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Seattle, Washington USA

Tap at Fiddler’s Inn. Pours dark red-brown; malty with hints of smoke atop the piney hops. Earthy and Octobery and certainly far from your everyday PacNW IPA. Yet it comes off as a bit thin and unfocused (when I drink it side by side against an admittedly high-end version of the style.) Little of the leafy hop goodness that I associate with the local harvest ales. Still good and plenty drinkable; not exceptional though.

draft at naked city. pours a hazy, rubied, coppery dark amber. loose, sudsy white head. head could really look snazzier, but, then, this IS a highly oily and acidic fresh hop ale. so let that slide. sweet grapefruit and caramel nose. and that means about 96% grapefruit. creamy medium body showing mild carb and plenty of hop acids and oils. nice rich grapefruit and pine mid palate, sweet and tingly in its acidity. long sweet brightly acidic and somewhat bitter finish.

Tap at Dray. Aroma is nice and leafy with hints of grapefruit and floral hops as well. Pours a nice copper color with great fluffy head and lace. Fresh and hoppy, very earthy and leafy with solid bitterness, and underlying fruity profile as well. Some nice malty caramel/toast as well. Good lingering fresh bitterness. Drinkability is high.

Full amber, though slight in head. Nice melting of hops and malt in aroma, fruity and well-balanced. Sturdy grain bill holds up again full flush hops with a Chinook-accented bitterness and decent fruitiness. More bitter than the aroma intimates. An enyobale autumnal IPA.

Poured a slightly clouded orange brown with an off-white well retained head. Aroma is slightly hoppy and has a sweet and sour apple fruitiness. Flavor is of a grain toastiness with a bitter hop finish. This is a good balanced brew, though something about it makes it hard for me to call it an IPA.

Citrusy orange aroma. This is quite nice. Quite fruity, a bit hoppy but a good flavor. Just not quite as exciting as most harvest IPAs.

9/21/09 On draft at the brewery taproom. Aroma is all sweet/sour (not from malt) hop flora forward with a black pepper background. Appearance is hazy reddish orange with a well maintained cream colored head. Flavor is slightly less hop dominant, with sweet malt to balance medium bittering that is more earthy than the aroma suggests. Mouthfeel is medium-full bodied with a medium carb feel and only slightly starchy finish. Overall, a ton of flavor,but not your typical hop bomb fresh-hop brew. There’s a solid enough blend of strong and subtle flavors to respect this as even an everyday drinker.