Becoming a yearly tradition, I was able to attend the Harrisburg Brewers Fest 2011, hosted by Troegs and benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. This year’s event raised a reported $115,000 for CF, and was much cooler, albeit humid, that in years past. Below are my tasting notes and pictures of the beers to accompany. Keep in mind that with smaller samples and an expedited schedule, my tasting notes a bit more brief than normal. As always, if I get the chance to review these beers again, I will expand on them.
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| From Brewers Fest 2011 |
Ohio O’hoppy IPA
The beer pours a caramel color with a frothy off-white head. The aroma consists of caramel, lemon, orange, and tangerine. The taste is bitter with lemon, orange, tangerine, and toasted caramel flavors. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. On a side note, I overheard two guys from Ohio Brewing trashing Dogfish Head, saying they were the most overrated brewery in America. While everyone is entitled to their opinion, who are you, Ohio Brewing?
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| From Brewers Fest 2011 |
Old Forge Altbier
The beer pours a caramel color with a bubbly tan head. The aroma is faint but has some caramel and lemon hints to it. The taste is smooth and sweet with caramel and is lightly bitter with lemon and tangerine. There is a hint of oak in the finish. No alcohol content is available online.
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| From Brewers Fest 2011 |
Uinta Detour Double IPA
The beer pours an amber color with a foamy white head. The aroma consists of hop oils, grapefruit, tangerine, orange, lemon, and caramel. The taste is smooth and sweet with orange and tangerine before bitter lemon comes in to play. The alcohol content is 9.5% ABV. This was an excellent beer and was my favorite/most memorable beer of the day.
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| From Brewers Fest 2011 |
Elysian Jasmine IPA
The beer pours a golden color with a foamy white head. The aroma consists of lemon, jasmine, and pepper. The taste is powerful with jasmine right on the front end, light lemon, wheat, and some pepper accents. The alcohol content is 6.3% ABV. I thought the jasmine flavors were a little bit intense, but not a terrible beer.
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| From Brewers Fest 2011 |
Elysian The Immortal
The beer pours a golden color with a bubbly off-white colored head and some floating yeast flakes. The aroma consists of lemon, tangerine, and caramel. The taste is smooth and has a great caramel flavor. The finish brings out the lemon and tangerine bitterness. The alcohol content is 6.21% ABV.
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| From Brewers Fest 2011 |
Nodding Head BPA
Apparently Nodding Head does not like the fact the Ommegang stole the BPA name from the, even though they stand for different things (Bill Payer Ale vs. Belgian-style Pale Ale). The beer pours an amber color with a bubbly white head. The aroma consists of lemon and tangerine. The taste is bitter with plenty of lemon, tangerine, and pine. The alcohol ocntent is 5.0% ABV.
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| From Brewers Fest 2011 |
Duquesne Pilsner
The beer pours a golden color with a bubbly white head. The aroma is faint but has some wheat and sweet malts in there. The taste is smooth and sweet with a light caramel flavor, some malt and barley accents, and faint hop flavors on the finish. No alcohol content is available online. A decent beer that is plenty refreshing.
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| From Brewers Fest 2011 |
Union Barrel Works Simcoe Pale Ale
The beer pours a golden color with a bubbly white head. The aroma consists of grapefruit, caramel, and spruce. The taste is bitter with grapefruit, tangerine, and lemon, but something about the flavors seems unbalanced. There is also a watery finish. No alcohol content is available online, but the regular Pale Ale is 5.5% ABV. I did not really enjoy this beer, as I felt it was missing something.
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| From Brewers Fest 2011 |
Iron Hill Berlinerweiss
Another one of my favorites of the day, the beer pours a pale straw yellow color with a bubbly white colored head. The aroma consists of wheat, lemon, and pepper. The taste is sweet yet tart with lemon and wheat all prevalent on the tongue. The alcohol content is 2.8% ABV (Uber-sessionable!). This beer had a great flavor and I will order it again at the restaurant if I see it.
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| From Brewers Fest 2011 |
Roy Pitz Ludwig’s Revenge Smoked Lager
The beer pours a dark brown color with a bubbly tan head. The aroma consists of smoke and malts, simple but enjoyable. The taste is sweet at first with malts and caramel before the smoke comes out in finish and dries the mouth. The alcohol content is 5.0% ABV. I liked the smoke flavor in this beer and thought it was a decent beer.
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| From Brewers Fest 2011 |
Otto’s Maibock
The beer pours an amber color with a thin bubbly off-white colored head. The aroma consists of malts and caramel. The taste is sweet and smooth with lots of caramel and malts to make the tongue happy. No alcohol content is available online. Overall, this is a good maibock.
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| From Brewers Fest 2011 |
Southcounty AmericAle Dry Hopped Amber
The beer pours an amber color with a bubbly off-white colored head. The aroma consists of pine and lemon built upon a caramel base. The taste is dry and bitter with lots and lemon on a caramel base. The alcohol content is 6.3% ABV. This beer was excellent and I can’t wait to try the other beers from this brand new brewery.
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| From Brewers Fest 2011 |
Spring House Seven Gates Pale Ale
The beer pours a golden color with frothy white colored head. The aroma is fresh with lemon accents. The taste is slightly bitter with lemon, pine, and wheat. The alcohol content is 5.6% ABV.
Overall, I enjoyed Harrisburg Brewers Fest once again. It’s never the most intense or insane beer fest, but the crowd is well controlled, well behaved, and it is a solid beer fest. Furthermore, it’s for a great cause, so nothing beats a good excuse to drink great beers.
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