Bridge Road / Mikkeller Dark Harvest

When we cracked our sample of Dark Harvest, the reaction was instant. "Chocolate orange!" we cried. Then we thought that might be a stupid thing to think. But we told Ben at Bridge Road anyway, opening ourselves up to the risk of being unmasked as utter charlatans. Thankfully word came back that "the hops were a research variety that showed huge orange and mandarin characters in the paddock. Good that you got some choc orange, that was the plan." Phew! Dodged that bullet. So, what else do you need to know? Ben had said hops picked from his local hop farm at Rostrevor and delivered instantly to his brewery at the same time as he flew Mikkel into town. Dark because it's dark and was brewed at night and Harvest, because, well, the hops had just been harvested, the malt bill is all the Dane's doing, lending the beer "that dark, rich and wholesome character so typical of his dark beers" according to Ben. It's lovely, multi-layered and pretty darn hoppy too boot, reminding us at Crafty Towers a little of the Yeastie Boys Pot Kettle Black in many ways. There's not much around either, so grab it while you can.

Published April 18, 2012 2012-04-18 00:00:00