Friday, October 16, 2009

108. Founders Harvest Ale

Our second beer from Founders—our last beer was their Breakfast Stout. As well, for all those interested, there is a Founders Beer Event tonight (February 2nd) at South Park Tavern—they’re tapping a keg of Black Biscuit at 8 pm. Don’t worry, South Park, since no one reads this, your secret is safe with me...

Harvest Ale has a hoppy nose that quickly covers the light malt sweetness that is present—there are pine and grass aromas, along with some lighter grapefruit aromas lingering in the background. The color is a light golden copper that is slightly hazy, and is accompanied by a creamy rich white head. Harvest Ale has a smooth malt front that is more toasty than bready before moving into a bitter in the middle; the bitterness is nice, but there is not much discernable hop flavor. It then concludes dry with lingering bitterness and a touch of astringency, although the astringency remains pretty minimal. Harvest Ale has a rich mouthfeel with some creaminess in the middle from the carbonation, along with some dryness from the hops. Overall, a well balanced beer that has better coordination between the malt and the hops than Green Flash, although we like the hop punch from Green Flash better. At the same time, this beer is more drinkable than the Green Flash—we’re not sure we could see a whole night of Green Flash, but we can envision a whole night drinking Founder’s Harvest.

From the Founders website: “This liquid dream pours a hazy golden orange straw color with a large puffy white two-finger head. First sip of this beer rewards with a super juicy hop presence bursting with fresh orange and lemon citrus then continues to introduce toasted malt undertones.”

ABV: 6.5%
IBU: 70

(10/16/2009)

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