Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale

[mje1980]

Sweeeeeeet!!!

 

[Paul H]

Bought a bottle from Dans Holland Park on Friday & got a hell of a surprise when I opened it..


A few glass shards fell into the beer for good measure



Cheers

Paul

 

[yum beer]

Had a bottle (well half a botle ) of this last night.
First, I think the crown of my bottle near cracked as well, it made some weird noise as I opened it, no broken glass though.
Second, I didnt think it was terrible, certainly more subdued than I was expecting but given the rumours of hop type maybe not surprising.
It wasnt great but I enjoyed it as something different to experience. The hop presence seemed very green and I get the impression that its probably
more the feeling of using 'wet hops', though have never tried such a beer. Def not worth $12 a bottle, but dont waste it on the Ballast Point Porter...dead set joke....

 

[mje1980]

Serious?, I loved the porter, I thought it was awesome.

 

[QldKev]

I've just cracked a Southern Hemisphere Harvest. Normally I pick the alcohol is big beers but it is balances nicely. I love bitter beers but this is a bit on the upper side. It does have a good malt backbone, but it's shy of that bitterness. For a Harvest "fresh hop ale" I would have though there would have been more of a real fresh hop hit. Maybe it's too much to expect it to be like when I used to pull hops of the bine and throw them into the kettle. Then I read the bottle. The hops are dried in NZ, then sent to the US for brewing and then the poor guys are finally shipped back here, probably being heat pasteurized in the bottling area before being boxed too. Overall it is a nice beer, and the further down the bottle I get the more I'm enjoying it. I would love them to try a 5.5%abv version and drop the bitterness accordingly. I may get another at some stage, but no rush to grab a carton of it.

QldKev

 

[vr4_psych]

Had Harvest with the father in law and wife at Slowbeer in July. All of us are big IPA fans but none of us liked this one. It's a great beer if SN are trying to kill the NZ hop and beer Industries.

 

[Beerprawn]

A friend of mine who worked at SN (just as a beer wench) gave me a booklet with a run down of a few of the beers in it. Not sure how old it is so might not be the recent recipe. But this is what they say if anyone is interested:

ABV 6.7%.

OG 16.6 P

FG 4.3 P

IBU 67

Bittering: Southern Cross

Aroma: Pacifica, Motueka

Dry: Southern Cross, Motueka, Pacifica

Malts: Pale, Caramel

 

[Pistol]

Had two of them, didn't think much of the first one so thought it might have been due to dodgie bottle from Dans, so had a second and alas still didn't think much of it.

 

[bum]

I didn't think much of the 2010 but have this year's in the fridge awaiting the departure of this bloody cold and triumphant return of my taste buds.

 

[bum]

Far too rough for the level of bitterness. I like the malt though - screams USA! USA! USA! NUMBER ONE! Not a perfect example but gives an indication of where we do it wrong in this country.

 

[Logman]

Had one a couple of days ago, much the same as above, won't buy it again but enjoyed it. I had it as my first beer and got a bit of a whack off it I must say, doesn't happen very often. Just sipped on a few Stouts afterwards, gettin' old

 

[Nick JD]

+1 on the maltiness.

-1 on the hopiness. Quite melony - I have a feeling that they were trying hard for it not to be citrusy/resiny for their target market. It certainly doesn't have the hop signature of an American PA.

 

[warra48]

There's one in my fridge. Will be shared this arvo with waggastew when he calls around to put some of his grain through the MillMaster.

Have had one from 2012 before, and quite enjoyed it, but I thought it lacked some malt backbone to support the hops and bitterness.

 

[mckenry]

Tried it Friday night.
Not really impressed. When I think $12 for 1 longneck.... Very underwhelmed.. Not that this is the brewery's fault.
Seemed to me that there was a truckload of hops thrown at it late, without much thought - this is the brewery's fault.
Actually bought a carton of Gage Roads Atomic Pale Ale. Pretty good. Better than the SN South. Harvest.
:icon_offtopic: I read some write ups on the G.R. Atomic, but from those reviews I think things have changed. Was impressed. Far happier with $42 / carton for this beer.

 

[chunckious]

Tried it Friday night.
Not really impressed. When I think $12 for 1 longneck.... Very underwhelmed.. Not that this is the brewery's fault.
Seemed to me that there was a truckload of hops thrown at it late, without much thought - this is the brewery's fault.
Actually bought a carton of Gage Roads Atomic Pale Ale. Pretty good. Better than the SN South. Harvest.
:icon_offtopic: I read some write ups on the G.R. Atomic, but from those reviews I think things have changed. Was impressed. Far happier with $42 / carton for this beer.

Agreed that $12 a bottle compared to a carton of "flavorsome beer" for $40 odd, you can see were the value is.
The Gage Rds that I've tried, hoppage doesn't seem fresh or impressive unlike Southern Harvest. Yes the carton is value compared to a special release but I'd rather invest more time in home brewing than buying Gage Rd.

 

[Nick JD]

Gage Rds Atomic PA would fail in a competition if entered as a PA. Virtually zero hop aroma/flavour.

Another "pale ale" made for the tastebuds of the megaswilleries minions.

 

[mckenry]

Gage Rds Atomic PA would fail in a competition if entered as a PA. Virtually zero hop aroma/flavour.

Another "pale ale" made for the tastebuds of the megaswilleries minions.

Maybe. This is something I would normally agree with, but this lot was good. Just giving credit where credit is due. I usually defend James Squire range in such discussions too. I think the G.R. gives JS a run for their money with this Atomic. Aroma was missing, but flavour was decent.

 

[chunckious]

I dont get it. To say that GR and JS beers have no flavour is wrong. How much flavour they have depends on the growth of ones palatte. But to compare them to the likes of SN special batch in term of freshness of the hop hit, I dont understand.

 

[Nick JD]

I dont get it. To say that GR and JS beers have no flavour is wrong.

GR Atomic Pale Ale has no flavour. On the label it goes on and on about being a wicked APA, but it simply isn't.

You open the bottle and it's 330ml of disappointment. Had they had said on the label, "A fairly average, underhopped, bland attempt at an American Pale Ale ... serve with lamb or fish" I'd be crying into my glass a little less.

Bastards lied on the label! It's Carlton Draught with a smattering of hops wafted near the kettle at some point. Drink one back to back with a SNPA.

 

[vortex]

GR Atomic Pale Ale has no flavour. On the label it goes on and on about being a wicked APA, but it simply isn't.

You open the bottle and it's 330ml of disappointment. Had they had said on the label, "A fairly average, underhopped, bland attempt at an American Pale Ale ... serve with lamb or fish" I'd be crying into my glass a little less.

Bastards lied on the label! It's Carlton Draught with a smattering of hops wafted near the kettle at some point. Drink one back to back with a SNPA.

Would you expect anything less with Woolworths having a say in their products?

However, in 2009 Woolworths acquired a 25 per cent share in the brewer