Here’s another beer made with fresh harvested hops. Having recently imbibed a bottle of Bridgeport Hop Harvest Ale 2011 edition, I decided to pop a remaining bomber of another beer made with freshly harvested hops: Heavy Seas Hop Haarvest Fresh Hop Porter. Brewed up by Baltimore’s Clipper City Brewing Company for their Heavy Seas line, this beer features locally grown Maryland hops.

Hop Haarvest Fresh hop Porter is the 2011 incarnation of the Heavy Seas “Hop Haarvest Ale” (the “Haar”, of course, being the nod to the pirate theme of this line of beers). The beer is also part of the company’s “Mutiny Fleet” line, though when I think of their Mutiny Fleet I usually think of stronger beers than this one. Still, brewing your beer with freshly picked hops is something special enough, I assume.

Anyway, let’s give it a shot, shall we?

Heavy Seas Hop Haarvest Fresh Hop Porter pours to a dark brownish to light black color (it’s not opaque) with a medium sized creamy head formation and a very lightly roasty, herbal  hop nose. The palate is just a bit thinner than I would like but the beer is all the more drinkable for it. As the beer progresses, good dark chocolaty notes and a light medium roastiness slowly blend with the grassy, herbal hops in the finish. The whole affair finishes with a gentle drying bitterness and is quite quaffable; the 5% ABV helps with this.

A decent enough gentle sipping porter, indeed a good every day sipper I think, and nice to see a beer of average strength for a change. Fairly priced at $5.98, too.

And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.

*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.

(B)=Bottled

(D)=Draft



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