Goose Island Harvest Ale

Brewed By: Goose Island Beer Company (owned by AB InBev) in Chicago, Illinois

Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 6-pack purchased at Jewel-Osco in IL; 2011

Style/ABV: Premium Bitter/ESB, 5.7%

Goose Island should need no introduction. They are one of Chicago's largest breweries, and have several brewpubs in the city. They are perhaps most famous for their 312 Urban Wheat Ale, and most respected among craft beer drinkers for their big stouts and their Belgian lineup. Recently, Goose Island was purchased by Anheuser-Busch InBev. This has generated some controversy among craft beer drinkers, but as long as Anheuser-Busch stays away from the actual production of the beer, I will likely continue to support Goose Island beer.

Today's beer is one of Goose Island's seasonal releases, available between August and November. Goose Island's Harvest Ale is an Extra Special or Premium Bitter. The term Bitter was used to describe English pale ales, and currently Bitters are a style that usually utilize English/European hops. If you check out Goose Island's website, they give a good breakdown of their Harvest Ale: this beer uses Cascade hops and Midwestern malts. This beer clocks in at 5.7% ABV, and packs 35 IBUs.  

This beer pours with a nice copper body that is filtered and transparent. There is moderate carbonation, and the pour yields a nice one-inch head that is pretty thick and tan in color. 

This one smells floral and malty. There is some caramel and sweet malt, some nuttiness, some grain, and light floral components coming off the head.

Goose Island Harvest Ale

If you are not familiar with Bitters, this is somewhere between an American Pale Ale and an American Brown Ale. This is light, earthy, and hoppy, with a slight floral or pine component. But there is a good malt character here providing caramel and nuttiness. 

Despite the large malt component, this beer is really balanced and grounded. It is pretty damn refreshing, and has a nice hop character and just enough bitterness to beckon another sip. This slightly dials up the malt component, but could compare to an American Pale Ale. 

This is medium-light, crisp, and refreshing. There isn't a lot of complexity, but the mouthfeel is satisfying. The front end is carbonated and sweet, which leads into a caramel and hop-driven middle, and finishes with a crisp back end. I'm getting hops and malt on the back. 

Rating: Above-Average

Score: 83%

At 5.7% ABV, this is super easy drinking. You could easily make a few of these disappear. I'm also digging the nice lacing and head retention. I tried to figure out why this is a "fall seasonal." It didn't make sense to me at first. But when you think about this particular style of beer, you can see that it is slightly less hoppy than an American Pale Ale and might have a more prominent malt character. 

When it is spring time, you want to reach for an American Pale Ale that has fresh pine and floral notes, is more hoppy than malty, has a nice golden body, and delivers nice hop notes like pine and citrus. 

When it is fall you want to reach for an Ale that is a little more malty than hoppy, has more subdued hop notes, has a nice copper/darker body, and delivers a slightly heavier taste but is still refreshing. Malts can contribute to that "heavier feel." This Harvest Ale is a Bitter that is still super fresh and drinkable, but the perfect fall compliment to a spring Pale Ale.

In conclusion: This is a great fall beer, and the perfect foil to a spring Pale Ale. From it's copper color to its big malt presence, this is an easy drinking beer that would be great during a football game or on a chilly Autumn day.

Half Acre Daisy Cutter

Brewed By: Half Acre Beer Company in Chicago, Illinois

Purchased: 1-Pint CAN from a 4-pack purchased at Jewel-Osco in Chicago, Illinois; 2011

Style/ABV: American Pale Ale, 5.2%

Half Acre Beer Company

When you think India Pale Ale you probably think California, and I can't say I blame you if you do. When I hear Pale Ale, I usually smile and think, "Yup, the Midwest has you covered." Between Three Floyds and Half Acre, you would be doing juuuussssttt fine out here in middle America. Up in Chicago, you can find Half Acre's Daisy Cutter on tap at a lot of places these days. Or, in my case, in an awesome 1-pint can.

Let's back up real quick. The Half Acre Beer Company was founded in October 2006, making it a really young enterprise in the world of beer. This is a brewery with humble roots. The founders of Half Acre started out by working with the Sand Creek Brewery in Black River Falls in Wisconsin. They eventually developed their Half Acre Lager, and began distributing and selling it in Chicago during the August of 2007. The beer was successful enough that Half Acre was able to buy out a space in the Bucktown area of Chicago. With continuing sales, Half Acre was eventually able to purchase equipment from Ska Brewing Co. and moved to their current location on Lincoln Avenue on the north side of Chicago. Half Acre has been brewing at their Chicago location since 2009, and seems to be really expanding in both amount of distribution and popularity. Check out the full story HERE, and check out their website for a low-down on all their beers and info.

I love supporting the local guys, so I hope to get my hands on some more Half Acre beer in the future. If you check out their "The Beer" section, you can find a bunch of cool info on all their current and seasonal offerings. Today's beer is a Pale Ale, brewed with around five varieties of hops. Pale Ales are a dime a dozen, and are in no foreseeable short supply. On one hand this is a good thing: Pale Ales are crisp, light, and easy drinking, but they also usually pack enough punch to keep the beer interesting; on the other hand, EVERYONE makes a Pale Ale these days, so it is hard to distinguish them apart. 

Today's beer is somewhat exceptional, rising above the pack in many ways. I'm happy to report that in advance, but let me dive in and give a play-by-play review of this beer.

 

Let me tell you I LOVE this 1-pint can. How is this not the prefect beer storing vessel? Today's beer is in a can so it is protected from light, it is easy to transport, and it's a frickin' pint! I get sick of keeping track of quarter-pints or half-pints, or one pint and insert number of ounces here. And millilitres are great, if you're a chemist! This is one pint folks. I also like to pour my Pale Ales into nonic pint glasses, the British standard; or, in tonight's case, an awesome 1-pint Samuel Smith's tulip shaker.

This beer pours absolutely fantastic, with a great one-finger head that is slightly orange or off-white. Maybe eggshell? The body of this beer is a pleasant murky color, almost hazy, and certainly not transparent. The color of this beer is a super sexy golden-orange-bronze color, and I swear this beer is glowing. I wish I could tell you about the carbonation, but the glowing murky quality is making it hard to tell. I can tell you that after dissolving a bit there is still a nice coating of head hanging around, and there is a ton of lacing. This is a gorgeous looking Pale Ale, and although aesthetics are not a factor in how the beer tastes or the rating, they do contribute to the drinking experience. If you pour something that looks like someone diarrhea'd into your glass, you probably would lower your expectations before even drinking it. Anyway, I'm not planning to boink this beer...at least not yet...so shall we move onwards?

This beer is quite aromatic, with lots of hops coming off the nose. There is quite a bit of grass and pine, but also big floral components and some citrus. The citrus is not the star here, but there are some pulls towards orange and lemon. There is also a hint of bread and maybe some caramel. The take-home point is that there is a malt component on the nose. 

Half Acre Daisy Cutter

As a hop-head and someone who loves hops dearly, I often find myself not being wooed or wowed when I first try a Pale Ale. I have to remind myself of the style, and tune my taste buds into Pale Ale frequencies. I don't have to do that with the Daisy Cutter. This beer delivers some serious flavor right across the middle of the palate. 

Some of my fondest memories involve all the stupid shit I used to do as a kid. Back in Grade School my friends and I would spend most of our days outdoors during the summer, and would occasionally try to eat dandelions or grass. Why? Because that's what kids do. At least I was never dumb enough to drink the pretty blue stuff under the cabinet that the folk's used to clean windows with. At any rate, I have a pretty good idea what dandelions taste like. I have firsthand experience. (It turns out that I'm actually a child genius, Dandelions are QUITE nutritious and are an edible weed: Health Benefits of Dandelions). This Daisy Cutter packs a mean dandelion and grass note, and it is powerful and delicious. 

Besides the wonderful dandelion component, I am pulling out quite a bit of malt. It's not the star of the show, but there is a good amount of bread, biscuit, and even some toast in here to level out the serious hop flavors. The hops are quite punchy, and even slightly dank. I'm getting really complex floral and herbal components. There are big flower notes, from dandelions to fresh flowers. There is also a good amount of grass and pine in here. I'm getting some pulls towards citrus, mostly an herbal tea quality; maybe some orange or lemon.

This is crisp and refreshing, and at 5.2% this is incredibly drinkable. I could see myself making a 4-pack of this disappear in one night if I wanted to. But despite being so crisp and refreshing, this beer does not sell you short. This beer has a huge mouthfeel, and is full-bodied. It's not heavy though...so I would call it a light-full beer, if that makes any sense. There's a huge range of depth as the beer unloads malt and hops across your entire palate, and this beer finishes slightly dry and crisp. The front end is carbonated and SHARP: you get blasted with hops right away. The middle rolls into even more hops, and then you pick up on some nice malt notes. The back end is hoppy, malty, and slightly drying, but still pretty crisp and refreshing. It's a balanced beer, as a Pale Ale should be.

After sucking down a couple of serious hop-bombs this week, my palate is officially wasted. The Daisy Cutter isn't super bitter, but it does have a bite. This beer is balanced nicely with a strong malt backbone, but there is still some bitterness. I would guess this is pulling around 50-60 IBUs. 

Rating: Divine Brew 

Score: 96%

What more could you ask for from a Pale Ale? Need I say more? The fact that this beer, Daisy Cutter, tastes as advertised - floral as hell and with legit dandelion notes - is incredible! I have no plans to eat a daisy anytime soon, but I imagine this beer channels a lot of the bitterness you would get from the stem of a flower. 

This is a fan-frickin-tastic beer, so if you are ever in the Midwest or the Chicago area, try and grab this beer. This is a super drinkable, but highly competent Pale Ale. I could see this beer pairing nicely with pizza, wings, or any bar food in general. This stuff could also stand alone on game day, or whenever. 

I'm honestly impressed. So check this out.

Green Flash Imperial IPA

Brewed By: Green Flash Brewing Co. in San Diego, California

Purchased: Single 22oz bomber from Binny's in Illinois; 2011

Style/ABV: Imperial/Double IPA, 9.4%

I am in the process of alienating my own blog with the absence of any stouts. I swear there will be stouts on the horizon, including some Old Rasputin and something from Goose Island. In the meantime I have some Imperial IPAs on my hands that need to be consumed, because IIPAs are best consumed fresh!

So today's beer is one of the aforementioned IIPAs, or Imeprial IPAs. Imperial IPAs are - as far as I can tell - an American craft beer innovation that pushes the beer envelope by adding more hops to your standard IPA recipe. There is no functional benefit to adding more hops to an IPA other than to flex big hop muscles. So Imperial IPAs (or "IIPAs" or "Double IPAs" as I often call them) are pretty much hop bombs for hop heads. I happen to be a huge hop head, so I say bring on the extreme beer.

Green Flash Brewing's Imperial IPA looks very similar to their IPA in terms of what is on the bottle. The Green Flash West Coast IPA is one of my absolute favorite IPAs, and I have had it several times since discovering it. It is super aromatic, dank and funky, punchy, and hoppy. It is a really vibrant beer, a Divine Brew, and would easily be in my top-IPA list. The Green Flash Brewing website is well designed and looks great. They have a great section discussing all of their beers, including today's IIPA. Today's beer uses Summit and Nugget hops, clocks in at an impressive 9.4% ABV, and packs a walloping 101 IBUs.

One thing you might notice when looking at the beers offered by Green Flash Brewing is that they have won a fair number of awards for their beer. Green Flash Brewing has only been around since 2002 and only puts out about 14,000 barrels annually, but they seem to be on the rise and their beer is top-notch stuff. So let's dig in and see how this IIPA tastes.

Green Flash Brewing Co.

Damn this smells good...I want to drink this, but I owe it to myself and to the 4 people who read this blog the courtesy of describing what I see and smell. This beer has a gorgeous and warm body. It is orange with hints of copper, but it is definitely brighter than a lot of IPAs. There is a big pillowy head on here as well, which I find surprising given the giant ABV. The head started at 3-fingers and has mellowed down to about half a finger's worth. The head is leaving epic lacing along my glass. The head is slightly off-white, with hints of eggshell or orange. The body of this beer is murky, and it looks like there may be some sediment drifting around. I would guess this is unfiltered. There is moderate carbonation as well.

But dammmmn! This smells good! Drink this fresh if you like hops. I am getting blasted with waves of sweet citrus. Huge tangerine, sweet oranges, and even tropical fruits like pineapple and mango DOMINATE the nose. There is a strong herbal earthy quality as well, and that herbal note is playing off the citrus notes to give off something like a fresh lemon. I squeeze fresh lemons all the time, and I swear I am getting an awesome lemon citrus note. There are lots of earthy, herbal, tea-like flavors coming off the nose, and the aromas are fresh and awesome. I'm not getting any malt, but there is a hint of booze on the nose. Let's see if that shows up in the taste!

Wow, that herbal-tea-lemon component is really swinging through in the flavor. The body is a lot more smooth than I expected, even featuring some resiny or malty notes. This is a lot more resiny and oily as opposed to the straight up dank notes I was getting in the West Coast IPA. This is also much more...dirty...than say, the Firestone Walker Double Jack. That's not a bad thing. See, the Double Jack is like a guy in a suit, or a 5-star restaurant where you need to show up in a tuxedo; and the Green Flash IIPA is like your awesome pot smoking roommate who is funny as hell, or a greasy slice of authentic Chicago pizza. This beer is delicious BECAUSE it is resiny, oily, and potent.

The 101 IBUs are showing up, for sure, but the oily/malty complexion and the big ABV keep this beer grounded. This one goes down pretty easy, even though it shouldn't. But again, I am puckering, and this beer is finishing bone dry.

Let's talk specific notes I am getting in this beer: There is pine, for sure. I'm actually getting a decent amount of bubblegum in this one as well as some hints towards Pepto-bismol. That's surprising because I'm not big on pulling bubblegum out of IPAs. There is quite a bit of herbal, earthy notes: I'm getting lemon and orange tea. I'm getting big punchy grapefruit rind and orange rind, but with a subtle alcohol sweetness. Perhaps the note could be described as orange liquor. It's really good. I'm also getting the infamous "cat pee" note. I could write up a whole post on the cat pee note, but all you need to know is that it is a description frequently used to describe IIPAs.

se. This is highly drinkable, as an IIPA should be. But caution to the new beer drinker: this is an IIPA. If you hate bitter things, or things with hops, stay away from this beer!!!! The front end of this beer is all about the textures: the beer morphs from clean and carbonated into something big, mean, oily, and resiny. You get your first hop punch between the front and the middle: it is an earthy, herbal one. You also start to feel the alcohol and the bitterness. The back end rolls the rest of the hop flavors at you, including citrus and bubblegum. This beer is smooth from front to back, and finishes bone dry with bitterness that hangs around. This beer is excellent.

Green Flash Imperial IPA

Rating: Above-Average

Score: 89%

The resiny, herbal, earthy quality to this beer is a serious winner. If you are a hardcore tea drinker, I would say give this beer a swing. This beer goes above and beyond in almost every single way, so why not the divine rating? There are two reasons, one is on the beer and one is on me. 

Let's talk about the beer first. In terms of complexity, this beer has an outstanding palate. There are so many interesting flavors from herbal notes, to citrus, to pine, to bubblegum. The mouthfeel is impressive too, and the beer evolves nicely as it works across your palate. Still, despite being full-body and pretty heavy in terms of drinkability, this beer reaches medium-depth. I just feel like this beer is reaching for something...and just not quite hitting it. I'm not sure what that is.

So it comes down to me. Right now I've only had a few IIPAs in my lifetime. This is certainly one of the better ones, and this is so damn good I will buy it again and I will revisit it in the future. I hope that after I try 20 IIPAs I will have a better frame of reference. For example, the West Coast IPA blew me away: it is dank, funky, and fun. That's an IPA I would take to my deserted island. I'm undecided this Green Flash IIPA is worthy of desert island status.

To conclude: DAMN. This beer smells great. It tastes really good too. The 101 IBUs kick ass and are completely welcome. This beer is herbal, earthy, and packs a mean lemon tea note. The mouthfeel is oily and resiny and in the best way possible. This is another excellent beer from Green Flash Brewing Co., so check them out and check this beer out.