camra harvest fest

i enjoyed camra's harvest fest at the railway club yesterday!
good times and good beers
there was a fabulous selection of harvesty, fally beers!

this is the list from the camra website, but it doesn't seem to be the exact list of what was actually available... i didn't see the central city beers there, and there was also a chipotle ale available:

Harvest Festival Beer Selections:

• Howe Sound Imperial Pumpkineater
• Granville Isle Fresh Hop ESB
• Phillips Crooked Tooth Pumpkin Ale - limited release
• Phillips Fresh Hopped Ale - limited release
• Central City Pumpkin Ale
• Central City Oktoberfest Ale
• Storm Echinacea Stout
• Russell Oak aged Scotch Ale with spices
• R&B Cornucopia Golden Ale – Apparently the horn shape of the chanterelle mushroom gave rise to the myth of the horn of plenty or cornucopia. It’s an established Belgian tradition to use mushrooms in beer and very harvest oriented

i began with the wet hopped esb
fabulously hoppy and well-balanced - very much a pleaser to me
surprisingly, as this was a granville island brew, i was very happy with it
love me the fresh wet hops
had seconds of this one later in the afternoon

next up for me was the chipotle ale, which i don't see on camra's list, so i couldn't tell you now, 24 hours later, who it was by
similar to rogue's chipotle ale, but less spicy on the tongue
however, it was waaaay spicier on the way down
i had hot pepper sensation in my throat for a long time after finishing my taster
not that i'm complaining though, just pointing it out!
i do love me a spicy, smoky pepper
so i had a second glass later in the afternoon
(notice the theme yet?)

i followed up with the echinacea stout by storm
kinda like jagermeister, but in beer format!
not exactly medicinal tasting, but definitely came across as herbally
i quite enjoyed it, and had a second glass later in the afternoon
i don't think i could have sessioned with this beer, but two small tasters of it interspersed with other delicious brews was fabulous

i normally don't like a scotch barrel aged beer as they taste too scotchy for me, but after both bridget and donna assured me that russell's spicetastic scotch ale didn't taste of scotch, i decided i had better try it
and i think it was my favourite of the afternoon!
yay for trying new things!
perfectly spiced, deliciously aged, this is one fine beer
it has all the right notes a pumpkin ale should hit, without the pumpkin pie aspect
i'd choose this as my harvest season beer over a pumpkin ale in a heartbeat
i of course had to have a second glass later in the afternoon

the howe sound imperial pumkineater finally got tapped at around 2:00
to loud cheers and a long line-up
i got me a glass
and for a pumpkin ale, it was quite delightful
nicely spiced, not too sweet, but definitely pumpkiny
no second glass of this one for me though
i'm just not much of a pumpkin ale fan...

even though i had it just the other night, i had a glass of phillips' grow hop because its a limited release dammit!
poured from a bottle, not a keg or cask
but still quite a delicious fresh hopped ipa
quite to my liking
but surprisingly enough, i preferred the gib esb
so no second glass of this one either

i skipped the rest of the pumpkin ales as i'm just not a fan of the style
i also skipped the r&b mushroom beer as i have a major hate on for all fungus-kind
and i am assured that you really could taste the mushroom in the beer
bridget and donna quite liked it
very cloudy and pale in the glass, they say it has quite a mushroom risotto aftertaste

i felt like there was a great assortment of beers to choose from
the food looked good, especially the pumpkin pie
the crowd was convivial
i think camra rocked the first ever harvest festival and i hope it returns next year!