Upland Harvest Ale

I completely agree. It's a fantastic brew and is highly underrated IMO.

 

It's a Citra hopped pale that gets very little attention. I'm sure if they named dropped Citra it would get more looks.

Nuthugger is pretty solid as well.

 

+1 to nuthugger. And shame on me for not yet buying a 6er of the harvest.

 

I had harvest on tap at Upland and it tasted pretty bad compared to what was in the bottle. Consistency is one of the key problems I have with Upland. I never understood going to the brewery, ordering a dragonfly that was coming out of tanks mere feet away from me, and it tasting like very faded hops. Bottles are all over the place as well.

 

I say batch inconsistency. I have had D-fly taste fine at the brewery (11th St) and out of the bottle. That is just not always the case, though. I should see how Harvest is at the westside facility for comparison. Anyone want to meet me over there for research purposes just let me know.

 

that's actually a pretty cool idea. would they let us bring in bottles to side by side ? i'm guessing not.

like - "yeah, hi, we're here to research batch inconsistency as well as inconsistency between your taps and bottles. you cool with that ? we'd like to set up right over there."

awesome.

 

picked up my sours yesterday afternoon. harvest ale, first time having it, was indeed really good.

 

I drank one on draft earlier this evening to wash down some wings, and as much as I'd like to, I can't knock it... It's a very solid beer.

I'll spare you all the $250 buy-in jokes...

 

Had a growler of Harvest Ale last weekend and killed it between three people, thumbs up. Picked up my sours this weekend and had some solid Dragonfly on tap but I agree sometimes it's spotty but I'll chalk half of that up to unclean taps or bottles left out too long.

 

I traded for some last week with a local guy I know. Never really cared for Dragonfly IPA, I thought their Double Dragonfly IIPA is a better offering.

This harvest ale from them is very underrated. It's really, really good. Citra is one of my favorite hops and this is a very well done IPA.

I will definitely have to compare it to Founder's Harvest Ale when I get that too.

 

I had it at the main brewery as well and although it was surprisingly good for Upland I wouldn't seek it out again. Especially when there's Founders, Broo Doo, and Northern Hemisphere available. Concur on Nuthugger.

 

I love citra hops, but I found this one very underwhelming.

I'll give it another shot though. I was underwhelmed by Fat Head's Headhunter the first time I tried it and have since found the gross error of my initial reaction.

 

I'm going to go ahead and say it. Fresh Headhunter is as good as Heady Topper and Pliny. I'm also glad it doesn't get the hype because I'd like to continue being able find it with no problems. I too however was not sold on my first try, maybe due to bottle age, which was unknown.

I'll also say that Upland Harvest, in my opinion, has been my favorite fresh hopped beer the last two years running, including BrooDoo, Founders Harvest, and anything from the west coast that makes it to Indiana.

 

I'm with you. Head Hunter is phenomenal. Just wish we could get more fresh shipments of it. All I am seeing is the august batch still...

 

Drank Headhunter all throughout my beer-cation in Ohio and was not disappointed.

 

I agree, had a couple pints at Twenty Tap and thoroughly enjoyed, one of the better fresh hops I've had.

 

Perhaps it was timing. I had the Upland Harvest following a Dirtwolf and was underwhelmed. Perhaps my expectations were too high. Given other citra hop based beers, and the fact that this is fresh hops, I thought the hop aromas, taste, etc should have been more hop forward.

 

i tried this beer last weekend and thought it was great. It was on sale for 7.99 too...can't beat that.

 

Yes, timing. I think what went wrong was drinking it after dirt wolf. Comparing a world class (IMO) IIPA to a world class (IMO) APA, in that order, is never going to do justice to the APA. One could drink a zombie dust after a dirt wolf and wonder what went wrong with ZD.

On this note, I had a Dirt Wolf at twenty tap last night and that beer, like the others mentioned in this thread, is absolutely superb.

 

Any idea when this will be released for 2014? I'll be in Bloomington next week and would be great to find this around town.

 

I want to say I saw it at the 3rd Street Sahara Mart but I'm not 100% sure of that. One of the things that sucks about Indiana is when Upland bottles a beer the distributors send it to Indy and other areas before it gets on a shelf in Bloomington. I still don't think Teddy Bear Kisses is available here yet although it's been out for 2 weeks or more.

 

Uplands Harvest ale is really tasty. That and Teddybear Kisses are the two highlights outside of their sour program IMO

 

best = Coastbuster
TBK = good
bbl TBK = great

 

Coast Buster is goddamn amazing! Already downed 8 bottles in a week.

 

^ this.

its the best upland beer, and its not even close. top 5 (dare i say it) dipa.

 

Is it a seasonal or one off? It reminds me of Toppling Goiath IPAs.

 

it's not a one-off. I think it was originally intended as a one off several months ago - but it became clear very quickly that the response was much too positive not to brew it again. there's been (I think) two more batches. it's a no-brainer that this beer should replace double dragonfly, which, uhm, shall we say isn't nearly as good.

 

That is exciting. It also reminded me of LakeFront Breweries first ever IIPA this spring, which was a one off. I was disappointing that I would not have it again and then ran into Coast Buster and could not believe the similarity. This is a top IIPA that I can find in WI and I prefer it over New Glarus Scream, so I hope it has a semi regular brewing cycle.

 

I'm starting to see it across town. I've made it through 1-4 pack so far, will probably get another! I also agree with what everyone else saying about Coastbuster - easily Uplands best offering and it's readily available now.

From what I've heard, it's going to be part of their everyday line up. I don't consider it better than Heady, and I've never had Scream, but it's certainly good enough to be a 'go to' when I don't feel like trading for one of the 'top' DIPAs. Furthermore, it's good enough that I haven't felt the need to trade to get a great DIPA since it's bottle release.

 

I'll still claim that Upland Harvest is their best 12oz offering. I really enjoy Coast Buster as well but for the style, there are many better DIPAs out there. I can't think of a wet hop/harvest beer that's better than Upland's. That said, I really dislike the 4 pack for $10 instead of the six pack for $10-$12 last year. Still worth it, but that's a lot of inflation for a year.

 

Could someone give me an idea of the bottling date of Coastbuster? Bottles are notched enjoy by Nov, but is that by the end of beginning of the month? I drank my last bottle and it is starting to go down hill; noticed the hops had a slight onion flavor. I have no real idea how fresh this was in the beginning of October. Was it bottled in the beginning of September or earlier? Trying to get an idea of its shelf life.