Harvest Ale
Sigtuna Brygghus

 

Sigtuna Harvest Ale, ABV: 4.9%.
500 ml bottle, 24.90 SEK at Systembolaget.

A: The liquid is dark orange to red. The head is off-white and leaves a nice ring.

S: Fresh, sweet and fruity smell, with notes of malt, butter, syrup, orange marmalade, grapes, flowers, hay and toffee.

T: Grainy, slightly roasted malt and floral hops, with hay, rye bread, syrup, grapes, apricots, oranges, fresh herbs and butterscotch. Long bitterness.

M: Notable carbonation. Medium body and bitterness. Dry finish.

O: A stable pale ale that, if anything, could've been a little bit smoother. It has a nice fruity touch, but it's very grassy and pretty sharp when it comes to the grainy notes. All-in-all this is still not a bad way to celebrate the harvest.

The colour is copper (22 EBC), the liquid is clear. The high off-white head slowly sinks down to a firm finger uneven head leaving lots of lacing. The beer is bottle conditioned.

The smell is sweet and malty with notes of bread, some coffee and butterscotch. Chocolate, figs, cookies and a medium strong fruity-hayish bitterness.

The taste got notes of British hops… Orange peels, apricots, dried flowers and plums. Some notes of mils chocolate bars and a gentle touch of coffee. Biscuits and roasted malt. The aftertaste brings a slowly growing bitterness, roasted hints of cocoa and toffee, and a mild sweetness.

The carbonation is medium strong with lots of sharp bubbles. The liquid is smooth and a little sticky.

Very high drinkability. Lots of interesting unusual chocolate flavours.

A: Pour is clear light copper with a large, a bit uneven beige head, that slowly sinks into nice lacings lacings.

S: Lots of semi-sweet slightly roasted English caramell malt. Buttery. Nice bitterness from hops. Lots of floral hops gives it a citric tone; grapefruit, oranges and lemon.

T: Dry bitterness from the bitter hops. Roasted caramell malt, some sweetness. Bready. Lots of citric notes; much like the smell.

M: Lovely long bitter aftertaste with some orange sezt notes. Body is medium and carbonation the same, the bubbles are a bit offensive though.

O: If I would describe the style English Bitter it would be very close to how I rewieved this beer. The bitterness that doesn't totally overpower the malt and the floral hops, but very heavy bitterness. This is how I would like the style to be.

The beer is hazy, orange, has an off-white head that leaves little lacing. Some curtains.

Smelling of toffee, bread, hay and grape-fruit.

The taste starts sweet, brown bread, orange marmalade, then bitter oranges, and finishing with green grass bitterness.

Medium light carbonation, soft and slightly oily texture, a big body, a dry dominant finish.

A very nice beer, could possibly be more balanced with less bitterness.