REVIEW: Southern Tier Harvest

When folks hear fall seasonal and Southern Tier this is probably not the beer that they're thinking of. We'll get to that one. All in due time, it's coming. But not quite yet, today I'm taking a look at Harvest.  Harvest is an ESB (Extra Special Bitter) brewed with fresh hops. It's cool to see an autumn seasonal that isn't a pumpkin or an Oktoberfest. Not that I don't dig on those styles, I certainly do, but it's cool to see some other styles as well. To the beer!

Harvest pours a quite clear bright scarlet in color with vibrant orange highlights. It's capped by a sturdy layer of bone white head that leaves some spotty lacing on the way down.

The aromas on this beer are wonderful. Huge fruity hop notes are right at the forefront. Big notes of sweet grapefruit, orange, and mango. There's also a slightly floral kind of resinous hop character as well. There's a robust caramel malt body in there as well.

Harvest has a fairly light body with a great biscuity slightly sweet malt body. The malt is exceptionally balanced by fruity, herbal, a little bit floral, bitter hops. The aromas on this beer are very American IPA but the flavor is more traditional ESB though. It's a pretty interesting contrast. The extra hopping adds a bit more bitterness than is there in a traditional ESB. Not that I'm complaining though. The bitterness scrubs the palate clean and leaves me ready for the next sip. The bitterness doesn't linger much though. It finishes very dry.

Harvest is not quite as heralded as the other Southern Tier fall seasonal and that's kind of a shame, This is a great beer. Eminently drinkable, perfectly balanced, and most importantly really really tasty. Check it out.

HD