O'Brien's Harvest Ale
Hale's Ales Brewery & Pub

 

 

I bought a one-off 12oz bottle at Trader Joes and tried it during an evening where I tried a few other winter beers. This one stood out as the most flavourful with a caramel/bitter finish. The ABV is near.y 7% but it tastes like something stronger. Tis would be an awesome beer to taste with a strong cheddar

 

Well that is a weird color for a harvest ale. Darker than the Sierra Nevada original harvest even. This does not look like a pale ale. Aroma was not delivering the hops, you get some chocolate roasted malt, peaty scotch ale kind of thing. WTF is going on here?

Hopping comes through on the taste, just not necessarily the fresh or wet hops you were looking for. Jeez, cut it out on the dark malts. I swear this was like some brown ale made into a harvest ale. Weird. No off flavors, just flavors out of style.

Bottle from Brewers Haven. Picking up some Belgian notes right away, yeasty, musty aroma. Would not put this in as an amber, although lots of caramelly malt late on the palate. Cloudy dark amber body with small soapy head. Lingering bitter finish and minor warmth.

 

 

 

 

 

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a medium reddish bronze amber with a thin off-white head with good retention and light lacing. Rich aroma of caramel malt, fruity with light citrus and grassy hops. Flavor is caramel malt with light biscuit, citrus and piney hops, light rye flavor and slight sourness; finishes with good piney hop bitterness supported by deep malt with hints of citrus. Medium bodied with good carbonation. Not sure this is properly a pale ale, it is dark and reddish in color, and the heavy malt body and hopping appear to be dead center in the red ale category. I'm reviewing it as a red ale, as that is a closer style to the intent of this ale (sold as a "harvest ale"). Nice rich malt and flavorful hop bill. A pleasant fall ale.

 

 

 

 

 

Orange in color, O’Brien’s Harvest Ale has a cloudy body and a nose that is earthy, lightly spiced, piney, and a little fruity. There is very little foam on this beer, but it does manage to leave some lacing as you drink.

O’Brien’s Harvest Ale offers a taste that combines caramel malt, bread, citrus, grass, pine, biscuits, and some toffee. The flavor is complex and you may find yourself mulling over what you taste or think you might taste. It’s a good beer to share with a friend, compare notes, and find what each of you can detect.

This ale is an interesting one overall, but it’s also not the cleanest beer you will ever try. It is murky and does have some yeast sediment present, so don’t open a bottle expecting to taste something clear and clean. Qualities like these do not matter to me, but I know that some consumers like their beers clean and crisp. This beer is neither, but it is still good in its own way.

Seattle is home to some great breweries and Hales Ales O’Brien’s Harvest Ale is certainly a beer you should try. The complexity continues to reward you long after the first sip and it remains tasty and interesting all the way to the final drink.