Sierra Nevada Estate Brewers Harvest Ale

Brewed by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Chico, California USA

Pours clear with a dark copper color. This beer has one of the best heads that i have seen. Creamy and off-white returns with every sheck of your glass. Refreshing and clean, sweet mild to med hops. Althought light very fulfilling.

Deep copper color, nice big beige head. Aroma is light, some hops, but more sweet malt. Flavor is, well, bland. It does improve as it warms, but not by much. It has a decent moderately sweet malt backing, but the hops seem harsh, not balanced and flavorful. I expect better from Sierra Nevada. It has a watery mouthfeel, although the finish is nice. Too bad the rest isn’t. I can get the solid regular Harvest Ale in my area for $5, this was $10, at $5 I might not be as critical. Mediocre.

I loved this beer, perhaps influenced by the fact I was gifted it as opposed to paying for it. Thanks to the individual who shall remain nameless who gave this to me! Medium orange, nose of caramel malts, earthy hops, and a high note of grapefruit. Initial flavor matched. As it warmed, the grapefruit flavors subsided and more earthy and floral hop notes came through. An excellent, superbly balanced IPA.

Tap at Beachwood BBQ. Nose of dank hops and malt. Color is darker than one might expect for a harvest. Flavor is heavy with malt - almost biscuity - with light piney hops and a mild orange blossom hint. A bit less than I expected - not a super dynamic harvest beer.

Deep dark copper pour. Pretty looking, and looks like a monster. Nose is surprisingly light for what I was expecting: wildflowers and hints of grapefruit and caramel. Taste is really well-balanced woody and grapefruit hops with a pleasant toasted bread malt character. Finish is a little thin. Allaround really nice beer with a hard-to-describe component: it feels like this beer is right on the edge of something extraordinary, but stops just a little short and falls down a little. Quite good, but not sure I’ll be tempted to buy many more @ the $10/bomber price.

$9.99 for a bottle? Oh well. Pours a copper color with medium fluffy off white head. Aroma is light floral hops, not the intense citrus and pineapple I was hoping for and that seems to be the norm with Sierra Nevada. A little earth and caramel waft up in the end to give a light balance to the beer. Taste was again, not was I expecting. For $10 I was hoping a blow my sucks off type of hop heaviness that just wasn’t there. To me, it seemed like more of an English style IPA (on th aggressive end of that spectrum). Everything is well balanced again but I was hoping some odd yet enjoyable with maybe something feature that weird hop strain that SN created. All and all is was enjoyable, just not what I expected nor what I like in an IPA.

poured darker than regular sierra with an aggressive head that faded rather quickly but decent lacing. smelled of grapefruitty hops and grass. tasted grapefruitty with a nice balance in the middle fading to give good hoppy bitter aftertaste.

This beer has been crafted with care, that much is quite evident. I find that I prefer a bit more citrusy hops in my fresh hop IPAs rather than earthy/piney ones but this is so well balanced, clean, and drinkable that it is quite enjoyable.