Founders Harvest Ale

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Rating: 5.0/5 (2 votes cast)

Beer Profile

  • Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
  • Website: foundersbrewing.com
  • Country: United States
  • State: Michigan
  • Style: American IPA India Pale Ale (IPA) Wet/Harvest Hop Beers
  • Malts:
  • Hops: Fresh Amarillo & Cascade
  • ABV: 6.5%
  • IBUs: 70
  • Tasting Notes: grapefruit, passionfruit, guava, citrus
  • Preferred Glass: Tulip, snifter
  • Food Pairing:
  • PHM Grade: B+

Founders Harvest Ale

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Riding the wave of fresh hop harvest beers, I obtained a 4 pack of this gem. Known for brewing quality beers Founders on one of the few breweries I’ll return to when I’m not sampling/reviewing a “new” brew. As you can see the label art is top notch with amazing colors and plump hops in the background. It was almost like they were screaming from inside the bottle to be let out.

With a lot on the line Harvest Ale stretched its legs for the grueling race ahead. It comes close to the color of their Double Trouble, but a shade lighter. Almost as light as a pilsner it possesses a hay/straw hue. The head is weaker than expected although a consistent carbonation was noticeable.

The hop aroma was smooth and mellow like the Port High Tide IPA, but did not have as much of an orange quality. It was more pineapple, peach, and some guava than anything else. A light fruitiness highlighted the aroma with ever-so-faint bread notes from the malt(s).

When I think of wet-hopped beers I envision sticky, pungent brews that coat your palate. This beer however, does a great job of letting you enjoy the freshly picked flowers while at the same time offering a very drinkable light mouthfeel beverage. At 70 IBUs and 6.5% abv it seems middle road to me, yet is larger than specs confine it to. Up front there is a great deal of hoppiness that carries throughout the brew. I’m not sure what hops are used, but my guess would be Centennial.

It was lively and fresh, but seems to lack a little more pungency than I was hoping for. The malts are noticeable right before the finish and come across like Goose Island’s IPA pale malt. When reflecting on the aftertaste there is a peach presence more than anything.

One I would definitely try to get your hands on as it is a quality beer, but not the biggest in hop flavor as there could have been. Simple and straightforward.

Founders Harvest Ale, 5.0 out of 5 based on 2 ratings
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Comments

  1. What year is this review from? Cuz I’m drinking a 2010 and its simcoe-amarillo-ish cat pee pungent. But in a good way :)

    Eric — November 19th, 2010, 11:48 pm

  2. The bottle reviewed is the 2010 vintage. I know they use Centennial in a number of their beers and it has similar qualities to that of both Simcoe and Amarillo.

    Thanks for reading.
    Cheers!

    Tom — November 20th, 2010, 9:28 am

  3. 2011 Vintage:
    Released close to the 1st of October I had a bottle one week later. It was exploding with hop character. Huge tropical citrus notes wafted from the glass. Revisiting this beer, I feel confident placing it between their Centennial IPA and APA with regards abv, but the malt and hop profile are closer to Double Trouble. This means that hop lovers can enjoy a lower abv, easy drinking, highly hopped, juicy beer that is Imperial IPA caliber.

    Tom — October 13th, 2011, 10:19 am
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