Chelsea Autumn Harvest Amber Wheat

Brewed by Chelsea Brewing Company
Style: Wheat Ale
New York, New York USA

Tap at Barcade: Cloudy deep orange with ample creamy head. The aroma has a musty yeast character, along with more crisp citrus notes as well. Has an easy going flavor. The wheat malt is evident giving it a lightly tart smooth body and a very subtle grassy citrus finish. Simple, but smooth and sessionable.

Draught at Brazen Head. Listed simply as "Autumn Amber." Poured an amber color with a thin off-white head. Malty and somewhat fruity and floral aroma. Moderate caramel/cereal malts in the initial flavor cut abruptly by a dry and carbonic finish. Seems overly fizzed. Settles a bit to reveal an earthy and spicy character, with a body of toasty and slightly sweet cereal malts. Not bad, but nothing striking overall.

Hazy amber with a thick massive off-white head. The aroma is very wheaty with bright wheaty spiciness over a softly bready malt base. A touch of munich malt adds some nice complexity to something that might have been uninteresting. Very clean yeast unfortunately, with only a touch of bubble gum character coming through. Flavour has soft wheaty spice, a touch of black pepper (not ethanol) and a crisp noble hop flavour on the finish. Quite minerally as well which helps crispen the finish. Very refreshing pint… get a Belgian yeast of some sort in here and this could be something special.

(tap at Gingerman) Slighly cloudy copper with a big off-white head. Aroma is roasted malt with herbs and soft spices. Taste has toasted wheat bread, light caramel, more hay/straw, some herbs. Finish is short with almost no bitterness. This is an excellent light session beer with the wheat/caramel duo as the main attraction. Caramelised but without loosing its crisp wheaty body. Something I wish I could drink on a regular basis. Having walked downtown New York on a number of occasions I thought that the Chelsea Autumn Harvest consisted of gathering used condoms and needles from the West Side Manhattan sidewalks before winter.

Any first impressions?
-A gorgeous head resides atop the hazy pale auburn.
-Dry bread crumbs and toasted cereals increase my nostrils’ level of curiosity.
-Flavors are mostly about the malts, as an important loaf of bread brings sustenance and subtle dryness.
-The smooth carbonation and well-nourished maltiness produce a very quenching beer.

What if you dig deeper?
-The finish is dry and shy, somewhat of a disappointment.
-There is some minute fruitiness to be found around the bread.
-This is a one-trick pony, but it serves its purpose very well as a malty session beer.

On tap at Gingerman, Manhattan.

You wouldn't know it's a wheat. Disappointing. Mild hint of bitterness, but otherwise it tastes like a non-wheaty ale. How underwhelmed I am.