Founders Harvest Ale

Brewed by Founders Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Grand Rapids, Michigan USA

Bottle (35 cl), thanks gnoff. Shady golden, medium white head. Perfumy, herbal, cheesy, and floral hop aroma. Medium bodied, soft carbonation. Dry with a long bitter finish.

Bottled. Thanks to gnoff. Light cloudy deep golden colour with with pale head. White flowers in aroma, tad tropical fruits, garlic and sweat from Simcoe, grass and bit of tea. Pretty light mouthfeel with a hop profile that gives garlic, mandarine and tea. Bitterness was not sensed that high.

12oz bottle. Pours golden orange with an off-white head that quickly dissipates. Aroma is drenched with flavor: grapefruit, lemon, orange, a hint of pepper. Taste is overwhelmingly strong of hops, citrus, a hint of spiciness, pepper, tartness, delicious! One of my favorite fresh hopped IPAs.

This is easily the wettest fresh hop beer I’ve had. The hop "flavor" is very strong here, but it hits the tongue totally differently than with a typical IPA (or really anything else) and the fresh hop cocks the mouthfeel sideways into an oily mess of awesomeness. Nose is an exotic blend of strawberries, upper peninsula deciduous forest, and mid-grade reefer. Appearance is very light, thin, and clear, even for an IPA, not a case where you’d expect it to lace the glass pretty hard, but it actually did lace nicely. Tastes more or less just how it smells, but with more hop bite. Harvest ales are a favorite of mine, and this is definitely at the top end of the category. Awesome awesome brew.

12oz bottle via trade. Pours a cloudy bright golden color with a one-finger white head that leaves a little foam on top and good lacing. Aroma is fresh and citrusy with orange, lemon, sweet malt, and even a little funk. Flavor is citric with orange, lemon, and peach, with sweet malt and a little bretty tartness that works well. Not terribly hoppy, but you get some bitterness on the finish. Body is medium-light and palate is extremely crisp. Drinkability is ridiculous. This is a beer you could have many of with no problem at all.

Pours a hazy gold with a medium head. Aromas of pine and cirtus. Flavors of fresh piny hops with a slight bitterness. Nice bitter finish grapefuit finish. Very drinkable and delicious.

Bottle. Pours a candy amber with a medium sized creamy white head. Really big citrus, lightly musky and earthy, with some nice grapefruit tones. Medium bodied, creamy, nice malt and spicy hops. Nice long smooth bitter finish with big grapefruit tones and nice smooth spiciness.

Bottle. This is a sexy pour, metallic orange with a head that cakes the side of the glass with adhesive foam. The aroma is hard to place -- citrus, for sure, but there’s something else -- peach blossom? -- dandelions? The same mysterious flavor rides into the flavor, an floral component that is unusual, but quite pleasant, with a very spring-like character. (#3772, 12/20/2009)