Hop Harvest
Empire Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

The beer pours a beautiful amber color with a thick frothy off-white head that slowly fades to lacing. The aroma is decent. It has a your basic pale and crystal malt scent along with a mild hop nose. It's not overly aromatic, but it does provide a nice fresh hop scent. The taste is decent as well. It has an easy drinking caramel malt flavor that's a tad sweet. The hop character isn't as pronounced as I would expect. There is adequate bitterness, but the flavor is a slight step forward from an English Bitter. The mouthfeel is fine. It is a medium bodied beer with adequate carbonation. This is a pretty solid offering, but not the hop bomb I was expecting.

Beer was poured into an imperial pint glass from a growler filled at the brewpub. A beautiful light amber hue in the glass with just a slight bit of haze and a healthy thick white head on top. Rocky head leaves stick on the glass as it starts to die down. Not a whole lot going on in the aroma - a small amount of toast and some honey along with a subtle grassy lemon scent. Citrus flavors to begin followed by a lemony bitterness that latches on and holds on strong through to the finish. Some light grainy notes pop up around the finish to lend a small supporting role to the hops. Not really any residual sweetness to speak of, just a crisp, dry, and bitter pale ale. Mouthfeel is medium-light, dry, and crisp with a fairly high level of carbonation. The bitter dryness of this ale encourages continued consumption for me, but it is not exactly "balanced", so non bitter beer fans may have a tough time.

Word on the street is this ale was brewed with locally grown hops from a variety of sources. A very cool endeavor for a place that focuses on utilizing locally produced goods. Overall a good first crack at a fresh hop ale. The unpredictability of the fresh hops makes balancing the beer difficult and this one came out on the bitter side, but it was an enjoyable ale.