Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Founders Harvest Ale

Founders Harvest Ale
Fresh hop ale (APA - AIPA in my opinion)
6.5% ABV, 70 IBUs

    Must have been bottled a couple weeks ago but the date in unintelligible like most date stamps on Founders beers. Fail. Poured into a generic pint glass.

    Much lighter colored than other pale ales, the color of Harvest is somewhere between a pilsner and the usual pale: true amber color with a rather small but dense and creamy head. The head retention is fine; minimal lacing.

    Tropical fruit and mowed lawn in aroma, this one is late hopped and dry hopped. I suppose this hop profile is getting too pedestrian though and I really don't see the appeal of "wet" hopping. Fairly similar to your typical west coast pale/IPA I say.

    Taste is nice... restrained malts with plenty of hop flavor and bitterness. Drinks way thinner than an average pale ale but I am content. Reaffirms by belief in Upper Midwestern pale ales. Daisy Cutter, Zombie Dust, and now this. The bitterness, although not over the top, is certainly assertive and lingering and the finish is dry. A fine beer but too bad it cannot be sessioned. My yardstick might be biased but this is my opinion... if Town Hall can cram a boatload of hops in a 4-5% ABV beer, why not others?

3.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 3.5

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