Salvagebeer Homebrew Beer Blog

Listen- drunk posts aren’t edited for content, spelling, grammar, or sanity – read on at your peril. Let me thank the many new readers who come here from one of the few brewing forums that I’m trying to be more active on right now. I hope to engage the greater brewing community, teach what little I know, learn the heaps I don’t know, and also to stroke my ego through a few regular readers. Basically, I’m suggesting that you subscribe to my blog, thus ensuring that I continue to write, now and again. See how I just whored myself around a bit? Cute, no? No problem – I’ve been drinking. What I’ve been drinking will be made known shortly.

It’s been a while, and I had a very, very bad day. Let me assure everyone that I’m not advocating for the self-medication of the world population on every bad day that comes along, but this really was a doozy. I got stuck in traffic during the first bad weather of the year (two and a half hours) with a stomachache. As a result of the traffic hold-up, I didn’t get to work until 10:30, and as a result of the stomachache, I got to throw away a pair of boxers and spend a very interesting day playing commando in my cubicle at work, which, it was made known to me about mid-day, is no longer my cubicle, but someone else’s – precisely, I suspect, for the reasons that I enjoyed it. Enough about that, though. I now habitate a cube next to the most amusing Matthew, one of my first and most loyal regular readers, due – in no small part – to the fact that salvagebeer is not yet filtered by the web filter at work.

Tonight, due to the fact that I am out of homebrew for the first time in a million years, my drunk post is made drunk on commercial beer. I started the evening with Sierra Nevada’s 2007 Harvest Ale, which I shall speak of in a moment, and followed it up with a “Jamaican Style Stout” from Stone Coast Brewing in Maine, and “Beer of the Gods” from High and Mighty Brewing Company. As for the Stout, I have no freaking idea what the hell a “Jamaican Style Stout” is meant to be, but there was no sign of such a beer on my recent trip to Jamaica, and certainly a Maine brewery ought not be trusted to brew up an authentic Jamaican style brew. It was drinking an alcoholic cup of caramel. Not unpleasant, but not very “stouty.” I made up a word. Sue me – I’m drunk. The “Beer of the Gods” simply confirms for me what I’ve always suspected. The Gods are both boring, and tedious (sorry, Chris) and I have no time for them. This beer has no qualities to speak of, whatsoever, and Bacchus would be ashamed of it. The start of this small binge, though, came in the form of an unexpected guest. A beer of which I’ve read much showed up here in Vermont, where our selection really leaves much to be desired. Tonight, I drank the Sierra Nevada 2007 Harvest Ale.

The Harvest Ale has the distinction of being one of the few (and apparently the very first) commercially available beer to be brewed with “wet hops.” The image advertised is one of hops being pulled form the fields and made into beer on the same day, rather than dried and preserved in some way. Whether it actually all happened al one day, or over the course of a week or more, it’s a pretty special sort of beer. Here’s what I thought, back when I was sober:

Sierra Nevada 2007 harvest

Aroma: This brew has an amazing hops aroma, almost before the bottle is opened, just like what you experience with a hoppy beer, but somehow fuller and more natural and broad.

Appearance: Amber with hints of orange, sprightly carbonation, big, 2-3 finger grainy head, almost iridescent – the colors of this beer are pretty deep, and remind me a bit of the multi-hued shimmer of a grackle’s wings, close up. The grainy head persists throughout experience. Crystal, crystal clear with evident and lasting lacing on the pint glass.

Mouthfeel: The beer is actually fuller and thicker than I was expecting, given that the hops overpower nearly all malt presence in the beer. Relatively creamy with no slick or oily presence. Impressive. mouthfeel.

Flavor: EXTREME hops, almost makes you pucker, but again, somewhat less harsh than what I’d expect from an IPA with similar bitterness. Nearly overpowering bitterness along the sides of my tongue. Lingering hop flavor and bitterness, with lingering aroma in the back of the throat – warming, and at over 6%, this is both reasonable and welcome.

Overall: This beer is a wonder, not due to its quality and drinkability – though both are excellent – but due to its novelty. I would not choose this for an everyday sipping beer, but will drink it yearly when I can get it, just as a reminder of the wonder and magic of fresh hops. When I buy a house, I will immediately put in a hops bed, and may get to experiment with fresh hop beers. Until then, I will have to “suffer” though with this rare commercial example.

That’s my beer review. Tomorrow, I shall wind my way to Maine, to my folks place, to eat turkey and to play the mandolin poorly in the basement recording studio. It’s likely that I won’t post much, or at all between now and next week, though I do have a Turkey-Day message that I hope to impart to you tomorrow. Regardless, safe travels and happy holidays to all!