REVIEW: Mt. Carmel Harvest Ale

Alright, folks. Another fall seasonal today. This one is a dry hopped ESB from Cincinnati's own Mt. Carmel Brewing Company. I've talked a lot about Mt. Carmel a lot in the past. You can check out what I thought of their two previous seasonals and various and sundry Mt. Carmel goings on here. This one though, Harvest Ale, checks in at a rather robust 54 IBUs and 8% ABV. To the beer!

Harvest Ale pours a slightly hazed reddish orange with vibrant golden highlights. It's topped by two fingers of sturdy, bubbly off white head. Colorful and very inviting.

Nutty caramel malt aromas mingle with oily, herbal, lightly citrus hop notes. It's very nicely balanced.

The big hop flavors make themselves known throughout. A slick oily bitter punch hits right up front. It's followed quickly by some really nice nutty, toffee like malt flavors. The malt flavor is intertwined with a a prickly hop spiciness. There's also a very subtle roasty character hanging out in here somewhere that adds a great little bit of complexity. Harvest Ale is very well balanced even with all of those big bold hop flavors going on. It ends fairly crisp with a mild lingering hop bitterness. Also, for the rather hefty 8% ABV I never noticed it at all. This beer is extremely drinkable.

I have yet to be underwhelmed by one of Mt. Carmel's seasonal offerings. Harvest Ale is no exception. Rich, flavorful, drinkable, and quite tasty. Check this one out.