Russian River Hoptime Harvest Ale

Brewed by Russian River Brewing
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Santa Rosa, California USA

(11/7/05) Crystal clear golden body with fantastically dense lacing. Aroma is medium sweet, pine, light grapefruit. Taste is medium sweet, pine, grapefruit, some caramel. Creamy medium body, some resin, low carbonation. (7/5/9/5/18)

(11/11/04) Clear golden body with beige head. Aroma is medium sweet, grapefruit. Taste is medium sweet, grapefruit, some berry, bitter but not overwhelming. Clean, medium body. I know the description does not sound like much, but this beer is great. (7/4/9/5/17)

Tasted at the 2004 Bistro Hop Fest. Light orange gold color. Medium white foamy head. Aroma is floral, a touch citrusy and orange. A medium bodied IPA, Malts are fruity and sweet. Hops are floral, and citrusy. Medium bitterness. Fresh and clean. Crisp, light and refreshing. Nice dry finish. Nice beer. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is dry, clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

Draft, Amber beer with a creamy off-white head. Nice citrus aroma with some pine. Pine resin and citrus flavors that coat your mouth. Grapefruit with a bit of sweetness. Very hoppy and the bitterness lingers with the fruitiness. Very nice.

(Cask Draft: O’Brien’s in San Diego, CA) Wow, what an aroma! Massive hops smells like fresh, tart passion fruit, and I love passion fruit, so 10 on aroma! And man, this goes down easy. Starts off fruity and hoppy, nicely balanced, then ends in strong grapefruit. Very smooth on the palate, and medium bodied. Golden in color and fairly cloudy. Off-white head is large and puffy. Excellent retention. Lots of random lacing. (27-Sep-04)

(Draft: Wet Hop Beer Festival, O’Brien’s in San Diego, CA) My first rating for this beer was on cask, but this was on regular draft, and it’s not as good, though still one of the best beers in this Wet Hop Festival. The flavor is strong, fresh hops that impart a moderate bitterness with lots of grapefruit. It’s also subtly malty and mildly sweet, but the malt provides a solid base for the hops. Strong hops nose is very fresh and somewhat sweet. Medium bodied, very clean, crisp and refreshing on the palate. Light gold color. Off-white head is smallish and bubbly, leaving a fairly dense blanket of lace. Ratings are for when I had this beer on cask. (20-Nov-04)

This brew poours with a cloudy pale golden body topped by a thick head with lots of lacing. The hoppy aroma is slightly sweet and grapefruity with a nice apricot note...a very nice aroma. The flavor is sweet yet tangy and citrusy with a nice malt note and a touch of bitterness in the finish. Medium bodied, very smooth and a touch dry.

Glistening light gold. Jagged-edged base of foam yields sticky lace as it dwindles. Wet cotton, perfumey hops, lemon oil, honeysuckle, tangerine skin, lightly toasted biscuits, and nasal burning hop fumes. Clean whiff of alcohol. Soft, broadly scattered carbonation. Ample hop sharpness is quickly softened by a husky malt and toasted biscuit flare. Quite airy, as well, which, along with the huskiness, disperses the bitterness about. Bright, perfumey hop character, but there’s a rigid aspirin note which clashes with the juiciness. Fluffy malts steadily pillar the bitterness, which progressively heightens and punishes the palate along the way. Body is dense with teeth-tingling oily richness, and as you roll your tongue around, pockets of hop oils randomly burst. Just magical. Finishes with a dusty-textured crackery malt bed as the hops remain rife with a zing which overshadows the more-delectable fresh squeezed juiciness, ever so gently lulling you into a state of sedate bliss. Muted hop belches of pine resin and tangerine. Twelve ounces of this left my tongue numb as if I’d just licked a salt block. Very fun!

Tap, O’Brien’s Wet Hop Fest. Pours an amber color strongly leaning towards orange. Some traces of red. Pine hop character. Somewhat spicy. Kind of sweet. Some creaminess. Bitter cream finish.

Nice pine nose..fresh and super grassy earthy hop flavor..this is a lawnmower..thin body though..tangy grassy hop finish with some spicy oakiness..