Cascade First Harvest Ale 2012

Cascade Brewery do a ‘specialty’ beer each year called First Harvest. It’s an ‘ale’ that is generally brewed from ingredients that are picked that day. The usual profile of a First Harvest ale is fresh hops and spicy malt. I say ‘ale’, because technically it is just a lager – brewed using bottom fermenting cold temperature yeast.

Supposedly a brewing tradition from the last 10 years, this years First Harvest is all about:

Juicy fruits with a slight spicy tang on the nose, a full mouth feel comprising rich, sweet  malt with glints of caramel before the expected bitterness catches up and takes a long ride home.

It’s 5.5%, and comes in 330 ml bottles (or on tap in selected Tasmanian hotels).

The Verdict

It’s a great colour on the pour, an amber liquid that holds a nice head. The effort from last year had a deep resinous hop aroma, but on sniffing this one, I’m getting more malt and vinous qualities. The resin is still there, but it’s hidden behind the others.

I’m not sure whether I’m just having fond memories of the 2011 vintage or this is actually a disappointing beer. It’s unadventurous, and that’s being polite. When I sip a beer that has the image of a fresh hop on its label, and a boast that it is ‘brewed in one day’, I expect a beer that is bold and hoppy.

The thin body barely carries the light hop flavours which are present as a slight bitterness on the back palate (obviously what each of us define as a “full mouth feel” differs). A bit of caramel comes through with some lip smacking and face pulling, but in general the beer doesn’t really have much to get excited about. Could this be a result of the recent change of Head Brewer at Cascade? Who knows. All I can think is that they need to be bolder with their experiment. Fresh hops are a difficult thing to get right, but it just feels as though they are dumbing it down to appeal to a wider audience. It’s not a bad beer, just boring.

If you want to try Cascade First Harvest, I would recommend hunting around for a 2011 vintage and giving this year a miss.

Score: 6/10

Drink if you like…

If you are the sort of person who orders a Carlton when they head to the bar, you will probably find this beer is more flavour than you can handle. Persist with it though. This is the gateway beer to better and brighter things. On the other hand, if you know the difference between a Saison and a Whit bier I would definitely give this one a miss.

Trivia

Brewing is part science and part art. There are many factors and variables that need to be understood, controlled, and used well in order to produce a fine tasting beer. The grade of the milling can affect how well you can extract the sugars from the grain (and the temperature of the water will also change how the enzymes break down the starches into sugar). The concentration of the wort will affect how well the hop oils are taken up, and the time for which they are heated will change which oils are utilised (those that flavour, bitter, or add aroma). In addition,  the age of the hops, the variations in oil concentrations from year to year, and how well they have been processed or stored will all affect the percentage and quality of the oils present. All of this is also dependent on other factors such as pH levels (influenced by the water profile and the activity in the mash) which can ultimately change how a beer will finally turn out. Next we get to the yeast which require certain temperatures within which to ferment (a change of a few degrees can cause changes in the flavours added by the yeast), as well as certain minerals and oxygen levels present. Finally, how the beer is stored, filtered, or carbonated will change the final the product.