Friday 8 March 2013

Sierra Nevada, Northern Hemisphere Harvest

I waited an entire week to drink this Sierra Nevada Harvest after purchasing it from the good chaps at Good Taste. I'd had a half at the Crown and Anchor (£3.50/half) previously. No citrus as such in this one, maybe a touch at the beginning of the finish.

I had a concern with this bottle that it mightn't be too fresh. The blurb on the bottle waxes about brewing with the fresh Yakima hops within minutes of their being picked (or something) and I figured that anything that this brought to the flavour might be lost after a long trip across the Atlantic. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have tasted this at it's best. Nonetheless, I did feel that I got a shot of that West Coast pine forest freshness throughout most of the bottle (although I still couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like drunk minutes after brewing) and coupled with reading the blurb, it was enough to really tune me into the whole freshness thing with hops in beer. I want to drink more über fresh hop centered beers. Was it oily? Possibly. (I could be inventing that after reading the phrase "aromatic hop oils" on the bottle.)

Palette history: I'd had a pungent mushroom risotto for dinner, but nothing too overwhelming in spice/strong flavour (maybe too much salty stock). I got a pleasant all over body warming sensation off this beer which I've not had for a while. I'll be back to get another of these. Pricey though.

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