Musicians' Network
Beer Review: Goose Island Harvest Ale
Tastes Like Autumn in a Glass
Whenever I travel, I like to sample the local brews. In Chicago, it seems that the predominant local beer is brewed by Goose Island brewery. I reviewed their Christmas Ale ten years ago, and since then I haven’t been pining for other Goose Island brews. In Chicago though, there is no avoiding it. So with an open mind, I downed some Goose Island Harvest Ale.
I had my first Harvest Ale while at Ditka’s Restaurant. Surprisingly, it was the only local brew they had on tap. With no other choice, I ordered one while I perused the menu. Then, I ordered one with dinner. Finally, I had one for desert.
The next night, I had the chance to try the bottled version while enjoying the Blue Man Group at the Briar Street Theatre. I was only able to have two because there was no intermission. When the show was over, though, I had one as night cap at the hotel bar before hitting the hay.
If it’s not obvious, I thoroughly enjoyed my Goose Island Harvest Ale. It has a medium body, and slightly fruitly flavor. It is mostly mild with little bitterness. As mentioned above, I was able to drink a few in a row quite easily. GIHA went down smoothly, and had just the right amount of carbonation to allow the flavor to linger between sips. The Goose Island site describes it as copper in color, but I think it had an orange/brown tint like fall leaves, but who really looks at their beer before drinking it?
I cannot recall any difference between the draught or bottled version of this fine ale. Unfortunaltely, its only available August through November. I’ll be sure to track some down next year. This beer was good enough that I’m looking forward to trying some other Goose Island beers for future tastings.
You should be able to find GIHA at any specialty beer retailer in the Midwest. Track it down. Try it, and tell us what you think.
Rating 4/5 BB&Bs.
[...] waiter attended to us immediately. I wanted a local beer and reluctantly selected a Goose Island Harvest Ale (I didn’t think much of their Christmas Ale nine years ago), and Jen chose a Pinot Noir. We [...]
[...] Goose Island Christmas Ale: Liquid smoke in a bottle. If you like that, you’ll enjoy this beer. I didn’t. It took me a long time before I was willing to try another Goose Island beer. [...]