Amsterdam Autumn Hop Harvest Ale

chris_schryer · Post by **chris_schryer** » Tue Oct 07, 2014 3:15 pm

Just did up my review for Amsterdam Autumn Hop this year. Did a search and didn't see an old thread, but I might not have dug deep enough. Regardless, this year it shows big cascade spiciness and nice fruity/floral notes. It's pretty damn good.
http://www.torontobeerblog.com/beer-rev ... g-co-2014/

kevinlater · Post by **kevinlater** » Tue Oct 07, 2014 5:12 pm

agreed. just finished a bottle, really balanced and tasty stuff

midlife crisis · Post by **midlife crisis** » Tue Oct 07, 2014 10:51 pm

Agreed, it is very nice. I preferred the Nickelbrook Wet Hop though, to be honest. Bursting with resiny hops. Sort of like an amped up Naughty Neighbour. Both are really good IMO (and fairly similar) and both exhibit their respective house characters. It just comes down to personal preference I think.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Tue Oct 07, 2014 11:14 pm

I like things about it, I find the green hop flavors run away with a sort of vegetal character. Must re-try some Sierra Nevada Harvest as a reference. And others from Ontario!

chris_schryer · Post by **chris_schryer** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 10:07 am

I tend to stay away from certain descriptors in the reviews on my blog, because some words are either misunderstood, or else sort of high-jacked, where they only have a negative connotation. That said, right out of the fridge, this one was actually a little skunky. I knew the lineage of the bottle (literally from the bright to a bottle to Amsterdam's "cellar" shelf to my hands), so it wasn't light-struck. I might have been getting a bit of the same vegetal thing. Fresh hops certainly could give it that. As it warmed a bit a lot more spice and resin came out. I should mention, my beer fridge is pegged at 6C. Still, I will drink a bunch of these this fall.

velovampire · Post by **velovampire** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 11:01 am

Cheers on the new look for the blog, Chris, 1000x better than the old one. Nice review, too.

I really like this one and look forward to it (and the Nickelbrook) each year. Not mentioned (and maybe this is just me), but I get a HUGE white Concord grape flavour (along with the other characteristics noted) out of the Amsterdam; it's different and I like it. And while I don't mind pumpkin ales as much as some on here, it's really the wet hop brews that signify autumn to me, another reason I hold them so dear.

midlife crisis · Post by **midlife crisis** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 11:16 am

Funny you should say that. For me the last couple of years it has been the Oktoberfests that I look forward to the most. Started I guess with Black Oak's when it came out a few years back and now we have a good half dozen. The Harvest Ales/fresh hop/wet hop are worth waiting for too. I wish Muskoka's, which is great, was just a little less expensive. I kind of reserve the Pumpkin ales for Hallowe'en night and that is good enough for me.

ercousin · Post by **ercousin** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 11:24 am

The non-lightruck "skunk" could just be the Ontario hop terroir rearing it's head. Cascade from Yakima is well known, but when you plant that same rhizome halfway across the continent you will get a different flavour.

The last brew I did with Ontario hops came out tasting a bit like watermelon jolly rancher.

Craig · Post by **Craig** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 11:26 am

ercousin wrote:The non-lightruck "skunk" could just be the Ontario hop terroir rearing it's head. Cascade from Yakima is well known, but when you plant that same rhizome halfway across the continent you will get a different flavour.

The last brew I did with Ontario hops came out tasting a bit like watermelon jolly rancher.

My pale ale I just finished with hops from the backyard has a bit of that flavour. That's not how I would have described it, but I think it matches.

Craig · Post by **Craig** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 11:26 am

Then again, I also haven't had a watermelon Jolly Rancher in like 15 years.

ercousin · Post by **ercousin** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 11:31 am

Craig wrote:Then again, I also haven't had a watermelon Jolly Rancher in like 15 years.

Haha. I was just giving an example of a strange flavour from ontario hops. I'm sure not all are like that.

This was a wet hop amber ale with centenial, cascade, goldings, and mt hood. I think it was the crystal malt sweetness from the amber ale playing off the wet hop grassyness that gave the impression of jolly rancher.

cratez · Post by **cratez** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 4:48 pm

It's an imperfect but damn good fresh hop ale, and one of the only local examples available, so I've been drinking quite a bit of it. The woodsy-grapey-leafy hop aromas are certainly unique – something you expect to smell in a bag of hops but not necessarily a finished beer – but I think they work well with the juicy citrus and resiny flavours. I'm also glad to see our brewers slowly but surely moving away from the idea that fall beers mean pumpkin ales and Oktoberfests and that's it.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 10:38 pm

cratez wrote:It's an imperfect but damn good fresh hop ale, and one of the only local examples available, so I've been drinking quite a bit of it. The woodsy-grapey-leafy hop aromas are certainly unique...

That's well put. The 'vegetal' aspect reminds me of clearing the vegetable garden of tomato beans and squash etc. in the late fall, all those stalky and leafy aromas when things are pulled out and broken up which are still partly alive and green but already taking on a vague musty going-back-to-the-earth character. So it really is autumn in a glass. It's a very 'naked' beer in that sense, like a varietal wine that is left to stand with its flaws rather than compensated in every way.