Goose Island Brewery's Harvest Ale

Jack this shit to max volume as you read.

Before anyone gets too excited about this review, let me preface this by saying Goose Island was bought out by Anheuser -Busch which was later bought out by those Belgians InBev. So, it's always unfortunate when a good brewery gets bought out by Belgians.

Goose Island opened their first brew-pub in 1988 in Lincoln Park located in Chicago, Illinois by John Hall (not the guitarist for Orleans). Remember that song, "Still the One"? That song rocks so hard! A second brew pub opened in 1995 in Wrigleyville (also in Chicago) which was way bigger than the first. They served booze and food at these places, stuff like rabbit, duck, crap like that. They got over a half dozen regular beers and roll out seasonals all the time. They have tours all the time of the brewery (the first one) and also pump out a few types of soda also, though I hear the soda is not as good as the beer. Also, the beer gets you drunker than soda.

So I kept hearing from people when I moved here I should try some Goose Island and were pretty adamant about it. So I said to myself, I said "What the heck do I have to lose?" So I picked up a twelve pack of this Harvest Ale for like $13 bucks; I mean that's only like a dollar a beer. Only a great fool would pass up a deal like that. I am a learned man, so naturally I bought it with a smile. So I went home and cracked one of these suckers open and OH BABY! It was tasty.

This is one of the Extra Special Bitter beers available August to November. It's got an ABV of 5.7% and an IBU rating of 35 (their IPA has a rating of 80 so 35 isn't too bitter). This copper beauty has a thick rich head on her and the bubbles are tanned, so you know before tasting it's gonna be jacked with flavor. The taste delivers. It's brewed with cascade hops so it has a slightly bitter aftertaste, like if you were drinking a pale ale, but the caramel, pale, and wheat malts give a rich, full bodied flavor in your mouth, so the aftertaste isn't all hoppy. The smell is really pleasant. A sweet, malty aroma that is representative of the taste.

So I mean a dollar a beer, for 5.7% ABV, and a brand of beer known Illinois-wide as a quality microbrew is a pretty good deal overall. And even though it's now owned by InBev, I'll continue to try their stuff. It's good stuff.

Drinkability: 7/10

Taste: 8/10

Value: 8/10
Curb Appeal: 8/10

Overall: 7.75/10


Other Goose Island Reviews:
Goose Island Sofie Belgian Farmhouse Ale
Goose Island India Pale Ale
Goose Island Mild Winter Ale
Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Hefeweisen
Goose Island Kilgubbin Irish Red Ale