Leafer Madness (Hop Harvest Edition)
Beer Valley Brewing Co.

Draft at Bitter Creek. Another stellar looking beer. Curtains of lacing. Gentle hoppy aroma. Taste is also gentle, but sublime. Fresh hops gives this one a nudge in the right direction. Not overly bitter, but a textbook example of the style.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to 5000 for sending me this bottle. The beer was drank fresh sometime last fall.

The beer pours a yellow-gold color with a large white head. The aroma has quite a bit of juicy orange citrus, with some pine and a little bit of biscuit malt. The flavor is a little bit different. Up front I get a ton of orange and resin notes, with a medium amount of bitterness. There is also some bread from the malt. Overall, the beer is very dry. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation.

 

 

From notes.

Might have waiting a touch long to review this one, I like to hit hoppy beers fresher than this. 22oz bomber, 2011 Fresh Hop addition, poured into a Sam Adams Perfect Pint.

A: Light coppery gold with some haze, beautiful rocky off-white head that recedes slowly with that iceberg effect...awesome lace. Definitely bottle-conditioned.

S: Nice but a bit muted...spiced peaches, piney and herbally, with citrus and hop oil...pungent and pithy...some nice fruity, flowery esters as well.

T: Ok here, good bitterness. Decent piney-citrus palette with herbal spicyness and hop oil...papaya, grapefruit bitterness.

MF: Mouthfeel is soft and fluffy, medium body and lower carbonation levels, pretty nice for this beer.

O: Underwhelmed with this beer again but this time it might be the age...still a solider drinker

 

Bottle given to me by my friend Bruce, thanks for the opportunity.
Pours a hazy golden color with a huge fluffy white head that displays mad retention and lace. The aroma drips with hop juice, pine resin citrus they are all here. Faint malty background of bread and caramel barely pokes through. The flavor gives off more malt than I would have thought from the aroma. The hops are still here in full force but there is more bready malt than I expected. Medium body and carbonation level, sweet resinous sticky mouthfeel. Really good fresh hop ale to bad its brewed so far away and not easily obtainable.

A hazy toasted straw color with head that won't quit. Lacing Victoria secret would be envious of.
Huge skunky sticky piney herbal hops on th nose. A faded distant malt echoing from the depths of nowhere.
Huge hops, everything in the nose. Bitter. Malt cleans up at first but lasts maybe a second. The booze plus malt add a fruity, yet slighty medicinal flavor that for some reason goes well with the hops.
I love the hop harvest season. Screw Octoberfests and pumpkin beers. All hail the hops!

Hop Harvest 2011, fresh!

A: Pours a copper ale with two full fingers of whipped tan foam which persists for quite some time before resigning to a full quilt of the same. Sheets of lace. Near excellent clarity.
S: Reserved pine, citrus, grapefruit, pineapple and resin. The malts are not coming through. This is madness! An interesting hint of fresh muddled mint.
T: Whoa, packs a punch! The bitterness is stronger than anticipated, and is followed by plenty of citrus rinds and some resiny oily hops. Some grassy and hay like flavors.
M: Medium bodied with moderately hi carb finishes dry.
O: As advertised, plenty of hops. Primary wish is that more thought would go into the scheduling. Not much nose complexity or enticement.

Pours medium golden with creamy white head. Nose is peach focused with some mixed citrus, light herbal notes. Palate offers quite a punch of hoppiness with caramel/toffee sweetness to round it out. I still get the peach and herbal components on the palate too, as with the nose. Creamy, medium bodied, maybe full bodied. Finishes a little chalky/hoppy, in a good way.

22oz brown bomber, 2010 edition.

Epic looking head, it does not want to go anywhere either. Chill hazed deep golden color. Cookie like maltiness hides within a thick blanket of orange zest and green peppercorn from the hops and exotic fruit from the alcohol. Smooth with a creamy slickness on a pretty hefty body. Hops come at the taste buds in waves, never ending. Bitterness is there, flexed and ready to thrown down. Leafy flavor sticks to the palate from start to far into the finish. Bready malt peek in quick but gets pushed back down. Alcohol tag teams the malt as well, warming and fruity with a faintness of solvent but never goes hot. Bitterness is relentless ... sip after sip it goes at the taste buds harsh but for a hophead like me it quells my desire for excessive hops. Finishes ... um, bitter and alcoholic and delicious is a chaotic way.

Well, if you are going to do it then just do it. Bigger is not always better but in the case Beer Valley wins me over. Sort of like a big fuzzy teddy bear that wants to suffocate you with hops. ;-)