Beer Rant

Well I'm up late just puttering around on the computer so I figured I could shuffle out another beer review. For this one you'll notice in the picture I only have a glass of a wonderfully amber colored ale is O'briens harvest ale and it's straight out of my homebar's tap. I'll tell you now it's a good beer out of the bottle, but simply heaven out of the tap. It's called a harvest ale, which generally is referred as a fresh hop on other beer labels, or wet hop ale on others. For those that have had a dry-hopped IPA before it has the citrus sting of an IPA, but intensified by the fact that it almost dries out your mouth with the finish. The wet-hop tends to have a fuller body with a smoother finish. O'briens is definitely in that category, and a whole lot of flavor to go along with it. The Hoppiness is still their to be sure, those citrus like little buds have definitely put their stamp on this beer so IPA lovers rejoice. It also has a stronger flavor more reminiscent of something approaching an Imperial IPA or even barley wine. The taste has more of sugary presence than most IPAs, and a stronger hit to. I believe the actual alcohol percentage is listed at 6.5/7%, but one glass will hit harder than your standard IPA, or even most other fresh hop style ales I've tried. This is to be sure my favorite beer in this category, it's wonderfully made and chalked full of flavor. The best part of the beer is that it's hoppiness is never overwhelming like other IPA style ales, or to bitter towards something like a stronger English ESB style ale. Sierra Nevada makes a wonderful fresh hop, but Hales has been making this one a while and practically down to a science. If you enjoy a fresh hop style ale this is your base line. This is the beer by which all other fresh hop style ales should be judged. With as many years as Hales has produced this you might think maybe quality has declined, maybe it's not as good as it used to be. That could always be true, but it's looking down with a cocky grin towards all other fresh hops as far as I'm concerned. This is a fall seasonal so sorry I don't think you may be able to find it to easy right now, mine is obviously out of the keg from the brewery that I've had for a little while now. I've found this beer in a Fred Meyer in the past so it's easily attainable when it does come out. So if you do find some have glass sit back, take in the aroma, and enjoy a strong, fresh-hopped ale