BridgePort Hop Harvest Ale (2007)

Formerly brewed at BridgePort Brewing (Gambrinus Company)
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Portland, Oregon USA

10/29/2007: I just barely cracked the cap and already I could smell all of the wondeful fresh hop goodness bottled up inside! The aroma has tons of spruce, pine and resinous hops in it with a bit of lemon, grapefruit, and lots of orange in the back. The aroma alone quickly captures my full attention. After shaking myself out of the hop trance, I notice that BridgePort Hop Harvest Ale also has an attractive appearance. It is the color of goldenrod honey and has a thick foamy biege head that slowly settles to leave a frothy crown and decent lacing. The flavor is sweet and juicy in the front and then has an explosion of of grapefruit and pine hops. It isn’t ot overly bitter, but it is full-flavored and about as well-balanced as a beer with this much hop content can be. The floral finish is laced with more pine and with a lingering bit of orange and clementine flavor on the tongue. This beer just screams FRESH HOPS and has an impressive array of hop flavors. The body of this beer is medium-full and pretty think, but but not too thick. It coast the mouth nicely and is very smooth. BridgePort Hop Harvest Ale is absolutely delicious and exactly what a harvest ale should be, not to mention one of the best of its kind that I have encountered in a very long time!

1 pint 6 fl. oz. oz bottle (7% Alc. by Vol.) from 5000. Thank you very much Andre! I really appreciate it. Rating #12 for this beer...

Fruity green aroma with grass and lemons. hazy amber in color with a thick off-white head. Solid zing of resinous hops, incredibly juicy, with lemonycitrus stealing the show. The malts are certainly viable for such a staunch beer. Creamy and fairly fulbodied. Lingering bitterness but not in a coarse way. Excellent! Thanks André!

Pours a glowing amber, very clear, with a strong khaki head. Bitter hop aroma, big pine character. The fresh hops were overshadowed by the bitterness, another fresh hop where the bittering hops took the show. Nice floral beer, just wish it had a touch less bitterness to allow more green hop flavor to show.

22oz via Capital Market. This one comes out a hazy orange with a large beige head. Nose is floral and tangerine. Mmmm, yummy stuff. Very very flavorful with the hops without being bitter. Starts out with a honeyish note, then the hops quickly kick in...orange, grapefruit, apricot and pine. Finish is bittersweet and ’balanced’ in that the hops take center stage riding a nice solid malt wave. This is world class stuff. Body is medium, carbonation is moderately high. Centennial hops frakkin rule, as does this awesome beer! Best IPA i have ever tasted!!!

Dark burnt orange beer with a beautiful eggshell white head. Attractivly murky. Very strong and fresh aromas, very liottle pine, just fresh hop, quite breathtaking in its simplicity. Great hoppy taste, fresh hops, slightly lemony with a touch of almost green onion, but its not unpleasant, malts play a minor role in this one. Great mouthfeel , very nice indeed, clean finish. Overall I found this a fantastiic beer..on how I would have loved to have tasted it REALLY fresh. By the way i thought this was more an APA than a DIPA.

Bottle. Floral Aroma with fruity notes. Cloudy orange with thick foamy white head. Medium body, with hoppy and fruity tones. Light finish. I don’t know if I would call this a double IPA, it really isn’t as hoppy as the DIPAs I’ve had in the past.

Bottle: Deep orange, golden hues, fairly clear, mild carbonation, large frothy off-white head, clumpy lacing.   The aroma on this is outstanding, straight up hops.   Smells like a handful of hops in fact!   Very minor pine and citrus aspects, minor being the key word.   Quite flavorful on the tongue, and without much bitterness.   To me it seems like a very robust Pale Ale as the hop bitterness isn’t very strong, but its very rich in flavor.   Very clean, smooth, with a fairly decent malt base.   I like my IIPAs to be quite malty, this one being on the lighter side.   Body and mouthfeel are moderate to full.   Towards the backside it becomes a little piney.   Wow, this one just sings... very smooth and extremely well balanced.   Definitely one of the better "Fresh Hop" or "Harvest Ales" I have had, and likely my top pick.   Very clean on the finish.   Too bad this is a once a year item.   This is a first from Bridgeport, at least in the bottled form.   I sure hope they continue this next year.   My recommendation is to not only try it, but buy several.   Not sure how you can make this any better.

An excellent fresh hop beer. Nice piney. grapefruit nose with excellent malt body to complement the beer. The bitterness is noticeable but fades in the finish to keep me begging for another sip. Update...the bottle version has not showed signs of life...yeast autolysis, notes of vomit, fecal notes, etc.