Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest

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

One of my least favorite IPAs that I’ve had from Sierra Nevada. That being said, I can appreciate a well constructed beer when I taste one. One of the most freshly hopped beers I can remember drinking from a a bottle. Loads of pine, citrus, and a bit of resin ooze from this beer. The nose is fantastic. The flavors were just a little too biting and off balance for me. Still a remarkable beer, and I appreciate the experience. Just don’t think I’ll be buying more.

24 oz. bottle served in shaker- poured a dark copper with maroon and brown tints, an ever so slight amount of turbidity, nice half finger white head formed with some frog eyes, and laced nicely. Aroma of pine, malt, and a few notes of mild citrus. Hits the mouth with low medium body, malt may have a tiny amount of sweetness to it, hops are refined and come splashing in the middle, finish has a small acidity to it. Very mild for an IPA- but everything is nicely balanced.

On tap at White Horse, Parsons Green. Attractive reddish amber, thin white head. Sweetish raspberry flavour. Really good sauvignon blanc type hop finish. Niceist IPA I’ve had today so far. Good balance, lovely tasty hops.

On tap at the Flying Saucer in Addison. The look is a golden yellow color with nice white head. The smell is citrus, hops, pine, caramel, and florals. Nice. The taste is fresh, pine, caramel, zesyt citrus, with a nice hops bite.

Drank it on tap at San Francisco’s Toronado with my wife. Always impressed by Sierra Nevada, great IPA, medium bodied, nice layering of hop flavors.

"Thanks Nat for bringing me back this little gem from your holiday. Honey copper reddish brown looking body with a tiny thin film floating on top. Hoppy citrus aroma dominates buts it’s not that powerful what is slightly disappointing I was truly hoping for a face melter. The nose also has elements of dust and pleasant B.O. (yes that does exist) The flavour has a very nice spicy hoppiness and finishes mellow instead of a face cringing bitter. Roasted malts and peaches start to show up when warm along with some rubbing alcohol and the finish starts to become much more bitter. Nothing really special about this offering its average at best but still very enjoyable to drink."

Sampled on draft at Beer Run in Charlottesville, VA. Pours a clear amber color with a medium frothy head. Good head retention and lacing. Very resiny hop aroma with pine and light citrus notes. Very bitter tasty with oily resin notes, pine and a subtle citrus bite at the end. Medium bodied, very bitter... one of those hop burns that lingers.... very nice.

500 mL 2009 release. I’ve been trying to get my hands on one of these for awhile having liked the normal Harvest so much. Pours a clear copper with a lively, rocky, tan head that has excellent retention and leaves excellent sticky lacing. Aroma is powerful floral and herbal hops, orange juice, pine resin (almost like Pine-Sol). Taste is heavy on the herbal hops to the point of being medicinal but is sweetened by the orange and grapefruit flavors. Finish is very nutty and bitter. The closest beer I’ve ever had to this was a one-off IPA cask from Aviator Brewery in North Carolina that feed the beer through a container of fresh hops before it was poured. The flavor is very earthy and raw and I’m not sure if I’ve acquired a taste for it yet.