Southern Tier’s Harvest
I do not want to imply that this brewery owed me, but I did feel compelled recently to check out a Southern Tier seasonal that would remind me fondly of the brewery. If any debt needed to be paid, Harvest settled up with interest.
Southern Tier Harvest: A Lovely Golden Color
To be brief, this beer is hopped with fresh English hops and then additionally dry hopped. Southern Tier claims that the malt to stand up to this hop explosion is fresh as well. All this to create a very special Extra Special Bitter for fall.
I haven’t had enough beers with “fresh malt” (that seems like an oxymoron) to tell if there is anything to this ingredient. However, I will say that the beer’s malt taste had a certain reminiscence of Tumbler, the other freshly malted beer I’ve had (it was a good reminiscence, to be clear). This beer also seems like a kindred spirit to Sierra Nevada’s Southern Hemisphere due to the clear, sharp hops flavor.
I don’t know if it is the “freshness” of the ingredients, but this beer really does have flavors that absolutely pop out of the glass. It isn’t a staid, sweet maltiness or a bland, bitey hoppiness. It’s a symphony of very distinct, nicely calibrated flavors. All in all, fantastic.
