I just got a shipment from LetsPour.com of beer from Harvester Brewing Co. (yeah, you can mail-order them!). Lots of excitement to get a variety of beers--pale ale, red ale, dark ale, raspberry ale--brewed with oats, chestnuts, and sorghum and lots of northwest hops, so I couldn't help but crack a pale ale even though it's only 11:30 AM here.
My expectations were really high, but I'm sad to say...I'm quite underwhelmed. There's a weird starchy mouthfeel to it, and it's suuuuper dry. The hop profile is pretty underwhelming, more earthy and herbal than bright and citrusy. There's definitely a more "beery" taste to it, but there's also some odd notes of tobacco, and the sorghum twang is in full effect. My homebrew is much better, which is both disappointing and comforting. Disappointing, because I wanted to believe there was much better out there, but comforting because it means if I ever get a brewery off the ground, my competition isn't setting the bar very high.
But then, I haven't cracked the other varieties yet. I'll post here with updates as I do.
My expectations were really high, but I'm sad to say...I'm quite underwhelmed. There's a weird starchy mouthfeel to it, and it's suuuuper dry. The hop profile is pretty underwhelming, more earthy and herbal than bright and citrusy. There's definitely a more "beery" taste to it, but there's also some odd notes of tobacco, and the sorghum twang is in full effect. My homebrew is much better, which is both disappointing and comforting. Disappointing, because I wanted to believe there was much better out there, but comforting because it means if I ever get a brewery off the ground, my competition isn't setting the bar very high.
But then, I haven't cracked the other varieties yet. I'll post here with updates as I do.