Surly Brewing - Wet 2011

Surly Wet is finally here.  There are VERY few things that I find more enjoyable than a cold mug of Surly Furious......Surly Wet is one of those things.  4,811 pounds of Citra hops freshly picked from Oregon, shipped to Minnesota, brewed into the beer 3 days later.  I'll let the can do the rest of the essplainin'...

"GET SURLY!  You are about to drink a wet hop beer - brewed with American hops so fresh they've never had the chance to dry out.  Day 1: picked. Day 2: shipped. Day 4: tossed in the brew.  The only delay from the field to your glass is the time it takes for fermenting.  The hop varieties vary, but you can always expect the intense resinous character that only comes from the fresh hops.  This ain't a beer for aging.  The beer quickly loses its aromatics.  So invite your friends over and enjoy this West-Coast Style IPA....now."

The beer-geek statistics vary with this one from year to year, but you can expect this years version to be around 7.5% alcohol and 90 juicy, citrusy, delicious IBUs.  The beer is a clear deep copper color with a big, bubbly tan head that sticks firmly to the glass.  Those citra hops.....are......insane. STRONG hop aroma with loads of fresh citrus - grapefruit peels, orange marmalade, lemongrass.  This beer smells decadent...it's hard to believe, but I think this beer smells better than the 2010 batch!  The beer tastes just as good as it smells, starting with up-front bitterness that carries tons of tropical citrus.  Grapefruit rinds, hint of pineapple, orange peels, some pine and herbal lemongrass make up the bulk of the hop profile.  Sweet caramel malts, slightly nutty, hang out in the background - I wouldn't say they balance things out, because they certainly don't, but they help keep the beer grounded in reality.  The finish leaves an interesting, bitter green-tea like aftertaste.  The mouthfeel is oily and resinous, silky smooth.

Overall Rating:  Come on, folks.  It's Surly.  Of course it's amazing.  The 2011 batch is slightly different than last year's....while it was still packed with citrus, it was slightly less juicy and a bit more piney and herbal.  I bought two 4-packs at $16 each, and I don't regret it....great fresh-hop brew!  Get your hands on it now while you still can.  A

Founders - Harvest Ale

Tonight I'm drinking some wet-hopped deliciousness from Founders Brewing.  I don't remember this being around last year.  If it was, I just wasn't paying attention.  Founders has a very diverse line-up of beer so it's no surprise that they have a fresh hop ale in their arsenal.  Most recently Duns reviewed their Cerise and just couldn't quite get past the tartness of the cherries.  My last Founders brew was KBS, a bourbon-aged Russian Imperial Stout.  Not the best, but still pretty tasty and better than average.  With tonights review, we are really rounding out a diverse set of reviews from these guys.

The label is one of the cooler ones I've seen for a fresh-hop ale.  Even though its relatively bland, the giant hop cones and font used for "Harvest Ale" gained my attention.  I've always debated on getting a tattoo of a hop cone.  Maybe this label will be in the running when I finally decide to suck it up and go under the needle.

This wet-hopped ale is a hazy, bright orange.  Holy hops!  Before I even have time to put the bottle down a wave of citrusy hops cut through the air like an airplane propeller through an Indiana Jones enemy.  That's what I like to experience with any beer claiming to use wet hops. The aromas are prominently citrus with grapefruit easily winning the battle against orange rind and hints of fresh cut grass.  Some malty sweetness attempts to flail its arms in the background to get noticed, but fails to garner any notoriety here.  My first sip is a blast of grapefruit with that malty sweetness finally able to break through and add some balance in the taste.  More grassy and herbal flavors make their presence known and bring a bit of complexity to this otherwise straight forward wet hop ale.  Very juicy!  The 70 IBUs keep the finish bitter and refreshing while the 6.5% ABV hides behind this hop assault.

Overall - One of the better harvest ales I've had so far this season.  The aromas were pleasant and remained strong throughout the brew, even if it was a little one sided towards the grapefruit.  The flavors were what really brought it all together for me.  I really enjoyed the hop complexities and the solid malt base to keep a semblance of balance.  Definitely give this one a shot if you are a hop head.  

Sierra Nevada Estate Homegrown Wet Hop Ale

So I finally forked up the $14 for this bottle of Sierra Nevada Estate Ale.  I've been resisting it for a while to avoid the wallet molestation, but I was feeling chipper and decided to throw down for it last weekend. 

This Sierra Nevada brew comes in a wax-sealed bottle with a green, hop-themed label that depicts the estate where the barley and hops are grown in Chico, CA.  On the front of the label, it says "Taste fresh-from-the-field flavors with this handmade, homegrown, and completely natural ale.  Made with organic wet hops and barley grown at our brewery in Chico, this remarkable ale is the only one of it's kind."  This is Sierra Nevada's 6.7%ABV, home-made all-american IPA.  Now let's cut through this wax and have a drink.

Ok, here I am 5 minutes later, still trying to break through this wax seal.  They designed this bottle like a tank...I feel like a retarded monkey hitting a coconut with a rock.  After failing with a knife, I got creative and pulled out my pizza roller.  While yelling some unrepeatable obscenities, I rolled that through the wax, and was finally able to get to the cap and open this thing up.  I poured this into my ale glass, pours a beautiful clear, dark orange-amber color with a creamy white head.  This is a really nice-looking brew.

My first thought after the first sip is how fresh this beer tastes.  It's a refreshing blast of citrus, lemon, pineapple hoppyness, along with a resinous, grassy backdrop.  The malts bring a light caramel bready flavor, which balances really nicely with the hops.  This beer gets better with every sip.  It is perfectly carbonated, and medium bodied, and not at all filling. 

Overall Rating:  (5.2 out of 6.0)  This was a terrific American IPA.  It was a little pricey at $13 for the bottle, but certainly worth it.  If I could afford it, I would keep a whole fridge full of this beer.