Harriet West SIde IPA Review

Name: Harriet West Side IPA
Style: Belgian IPA
ABV: 6.5%
IBUs: 40

Harriet Brewing. I recall this being the first "local" brewery that popped up in South Minneapolis when I lived there a few years back. I remember Harriet having the "Coming Soon" signage out in front when I was driving from my (former) humble abode to my undergraduate classes on a daily basis.

Then a couple of months before I departed for Chicago, they had their taproom grand opening, which I was unable to attend that day due to the high amount of projects I had going on at that time. Plus with graduation looming a little over a month away, I had to prioritize. However I did manage to try out a couple of their beers prior to their taproom opening, which bring us to the beer at hand.

Today's beer, the West Side IPA holds a special place in my heart. It's the first beer I ever had from Harriet Brewing, on tap at the Rail Station in South Minneapolis, which was amongst the very first places to actually carry anything from Harriet Brewing. I didn't take any notes or anything of the sort while I was there so today marks the first time I've done a proper review of a Harriet Brewing beer. And no, my visit to the food truck rally last year at Harriet does not count.

Appearance - Mildly hazy golden color with a light amount of visible carbonation. The head is nice and foamy with a good amount of retention but the lacing is more on the sparse side.

Aroma - Belgian yeasts and clove notes. I am picking on some floral hop and grapefruit sweetness in here as well. Aside from that, it's pretty yeast forward for an IPA

Taste - Very Belgian yeast forward but the cloves aren't exactly what I would call prominent. I'm getting some bitter hoppiness and grapefruit notes, along with some light citrus and floral hop notes; All in that order. There's also a candied caramel malt backbone that has an almost cotton candy/bubblegum-like quality to it.

Having this beer again makes me feel nostalgic, but not for the reasons you may think. I'm not talking about wishing to be an undergraduate student working part-time again nor am I talking about how things were "simpler" back then (though that wouldn't hurt.) I'm talking about wanting to live in the neighborhood of Howe/Minnehaha once again. One day, perhaps.....

As for the beer itself, it feels more like a Belgian Pale Ale than a Belgian IPA, but it's a really good beer either way you look at it. Right now, the availability is very limited, which is mostly just the Minneapolis-area for the time being. I'm hoping that sooner or later the availability is much wider and in bottles in the near future. Right now, if you ever find yourself in the Minneapolis-area, it's worth seeking out amongst the other offerings from them.

Harriet West Side IPA Review - 8.5/10

Minnesota Craft Beer Week 2014 - Day 5 (A personal account)

Early Saturday morning while I was running out to grab some breakfast, I made the startling discovery that my car had been leaking transmission fluid for the past couple of days. I say couple of days because we had been driving my fiance's car as a means of getting around because of gas mileage. Fearing the worst, I made a stop at AutoZone to get some sealant for my transmission (Spoiler Alert: It didn't work but that's another story.)

In the meantime, we decided that day that we weren't going to be doing too much on account of us being burnt out from driving everywhere. We ultimately decided we were going to the Food Truck Rally over at Harriet Brewing.

Once we arrived, I was taken aback by how nice it was outside, a nice balmy 72 degrees Fahrenheit. After the long crappy winter we had endured, it was like I was below the 45th Pararell...oh wait, I was! We dined on the finest cuisine known to man: From Mac and Cheese Sandwiches to Philly Cheese Steak; From fried Mac & Cheese balls to probably the most outlandish of the bunch..

Behold! Probably the most unhealthiest food that I have eaten outside of the Minnesota State Fair! I present to you a chocolate chip cookie covered in Nutella and topped with bacon. Did I shorten my lifespan by 5 years simply by eating this? Probably. Was it delicious? Of course!

However, I didn't make this post to talk about food, I'm here to talk about the beer. Since flights were not an option I decided to have a couple of pints so I had to choose carefully! In the end, I ended up having 3 of them and here are my thoughts on the ones that I had.

Harriet Brewing West Side IPA - Their Belgian Style IPA. This beer possess a strong Belgian yeast character with some nice citrus hops and a strong candied caramel malty backbone. It was quite a tasty beer! Even my fiance, who generally tends to avoid anything remotely related to IPAs, had a sip of this and liked it so much, she ended up buying a pint for herself!

Harriet Brewing Saison Nourrice - Like their West Side IPA, this had a fairly strong Belgian Yeast characteristic to it. However, it had a fairly strong sour flavor to it by Saison standards along with some pale malts and floral hops. With that said, I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's definitely a different take on the Saison Style but it works out surprisingly well.

Harriet Brewing Sour Barrel Aged Divine Oculust on Raspberries - A take on their regular Belgian Golden Strong Ale and part of their sour barrel aging program. This beer has a very strong fruity-raspberry profile along with some nice sour notes that are actually fairly mild and approachable and there are some light citrus notes to top it all off. If this is what the sour barrel program is aiming for, then I think it's done it's job quite well.

Even though our day was relatively short, between the great beer, food and surprisingly good live music, we still had an absolutely fun time. Anyone visiting Minneapolis who is into craft beer owes it to themselves to check this place out. I would definitely visit this place again if I were given the chance