Goose Island Beer Co.- Harvest Ale: “Fall” in love with this keeper…
Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at 6:15PM | by Wes 
It has been a crazy week in the life of Riley. I landed an unexpected job interview with an amazing school. So my last few days have been completely insane and I have been neglecting some of my other duties, namely my beer reviews. After my final interview I was feeling pretty confident and was looking for a little congratulatory beverage. It’s no secret that I freaking love Fall/ Oktoberfest beers, so I happily snapped up Goose Island’s Harvest Ale.
Harvest Ale is a fall seasonal ESB (extra special bitter). The Brewmasters notes read as follows, “Brewed in honor of the Harvest season this copper colored ESB is made with Cascade hops and the richest Midwestern malts. A fruity American hop aroma and a toasty malt character make Goose Island Harvest Ale an extra special beer worthy of your devotion.” Well devotion is a hell of word, let’s at least see if it is worth my ten bucks first.
My initial impression was that the aroma was much more floral than fruity, which is not a gripe, because floral usually means hops and I love hops. The color is a very beautiful dark apple cider/ copper. I do agree that you can pick up traces of sweet malt as well. Harvest Ale was a little fizzier than I usually like, but overall a beautiful beer in both look and feel.
Goose Island has an intriguing brew here. It is remarkably smooth with a clean and crisp hop bite at the end. It was hoping for a little more bitterness, but this was a pleasant surprise. I’m not really sure how Goose Island pulled it off but Harvest Ale tastes exactly how I imagine fall in a bottle being. And I am going to bump up their review score even more because of their kickass website that features a great and passionate video by brewmaster Greg as well as awesome food pairings. If your looking for a timeout from Oktoberfest (I know that is a dumb statement), then I highly recommend Harvest Ale, it just surpassed Matilda as my new favorite Goose Island brew!
ABV: 5.7%
Consumed: Pint Glass
Verdict: Buy A Case!
