Sierra Nevada Harvest

Sierra Nevada Harvest - 13th edition Wet Hop Ale (33 cl bottle) 5%
This beer was part of a temporary "middle-of-the-month" release at Systembolaget in February. What makes this beer special is that they use freshly picked (wet) hops. There is a description on how they make it work at Ratebeer:

"Our Harvest Ale was the first American beer ever brewed with 100% fresh picked, "wet hops." In just one day, we harvest hops in Yakima, WA, ship them that night to our brewery in Chico, CA, and then rush them into the brew kettle as they are unloaded at dawn the next day."

Style: India Pale Ale

Cost: 69,10 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 5/5

Almost clear copper liquid with a medium sized dirty white foam that lasted a long time and left chunks of foam on the side of the glass. The foam also had some crater action going on. Looked really nice.

Smell: 8/10

Lots of fresh hops, grass, citrus and pine needle.

Taste: 8/10

Lots of fresh hops, grass, hop recin, pine needle and citrus. High bitterness that stuck around for a long time.

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Dry with a medium smooth mouthfeel. Medium thick body.

Comment:

This is a very nice IPA with lots of hops and a very high bitterness. A hop kick to the tongue that would satisfy any hop head.

I really don't have much to complain about this beer. It could use some more malt to balance the very high bitterness but it's not something that bothers me.

I think this beer would be best on it's own rather then mix it with food. Some hard salty cheeses might work well though.

All in all a great beer, if you like hops and see this beer on the shelf then it's definitely worth to buy.

Total: 4/5