Mt Carmel: Harvest Ale

 

Last week I stopped by the Local Beer Fest-Thang that 50W was hosting.  It was early in the day so there wasn’t much going on at that point.  Just a few people meandering around and I was one of those folks with more time than beer on my hands.  That worked out well because it afforded me the opportunity to meet Jared, one of the brewers at Mt Carmel. Since it was still early in the day and a bit slow, Jared and I chatted quite a bit, exchanged observations on the burgeoning beer scene in Cincinnati and were of one mind about who our favorite brewer in the city was at this point. I will admit, that prior to the meeting I hadn’t been the biggest fan (at least in my little mind) of Mt Carmel beer. Although it is a goal of mine to taste and review at least one brew from each brewery in Cincinnati to start with, I had put Mt Carmel towards the bottom of the list because it is, how should I say, a bit less sexy than the new breweries popping up in the city. (Beer snob disclaimer warning!) However, now that I have pulled my “beer snobbed head” out of my exterior end, I can not only see a lot better, but was absolutely blown away by the beer that I tasted from Mt Carmel.  Jared later invited me to the brewery this week which I, in a duty-bound way, accepted. 

 

 

 I literally passed the brewery up, blew by it like a wayward wind with no particular place to go.  I was on a bike and it was a very hot 90plus day.  I first smelled the brewery, you know that very distinctive smell, intoxicating aroma and blissful bouquet that only can be attributed to breweries, but I just kept riding.  I eventually lost the scent and like any good bird dog knew that I must have past it so I circled back to sneak up on it.  The converted farm house shelters the tasting room and the attached outbuilding hides the brewery.  The place comes equipped with the obligatory pond with a weeping willow leaning over the pond stretching its’ branches downward as if drinking the water offered up from the pond.  This was a very different setting than the Cincinnati breweries that I had reviewed so far.  These guys are literally making beer in their back yard (it’s just a really big back yard!)

The Mt Carmel Harvest ale is a “newer” recipe and the recipe is shared by Mike, Jared and Virgil and is the last of the four seasonals to be developed.  When Jared started with Mt Carmel, he took over for Anthony, who has now moved on to becoming a lawyer, (trying really hard not to provide commentary on that).  Jared had only a three week overlap with Anthony before he had to go solo and in the first month was when he nailed down the recipe for the Mt Carmel Harvest Ale.  I also met Virgil while at the Brewery, between Virgil, Jared and assistant brewer Matt they handle the entire brewery and bottling operation. 

What makes this beer particularly interesting is that it is a dry-hopped harvest ale.  Normally when “people” refer to a harvest ale it is because they used freshly harvested hops as opposed to dried hops.  However the boys at Mt Carmel have used dry-hopping to get the freshness.  Normally dry hopping with Cascade is done with an IPA for example.

GUEST BEER REVIEWER!!!:  I actually had Jared review his own beer and below are the notes from him describing his experience.  (pretty cool, huh?)

“the goal is a fully body ale, ESB.  Hops are English challenger and Cascade and then dry hopped with Cascade”

NOSE: “the nose is fresh, grassy, lemon citrus. 

TASTE: “Coates your entire tongue, full flavor across, velvety, not prickly, very smooth.  Not super hard up front.  Citrus is more of a rind flavor, not orange”

“…the Malt is slight sweet, biscuit quality almost graham like”

FINISH: “…not super dry, but dries up a bit, linger fresh hops on the tongue”

When I asked him what the Harvest Ale will taste like on the third beer he said:  “…the hops will take over, going back and forth between hops and the malt” 

Jared provided a great explanation of what to expect from this ale, this ale has a very approachable personality and immediately gets your attention. You like the ale when you first meet it and you like it even better the more you get to know it. 

5 Cool Brew Clues:  (Things to talk about and impress with whoever will listen with while partaking…)

1.  The color led them to the style, very fall like bright auburn color. 

 2. They have increased capacity 40 percent since May and have plans to continue to increase capacity. 

3.  The head is off white because of the malt, the roasted malt makes it a tan head

 4.  ABV 5.8, IBU 55

5.  They have a tap room only nut brown cask-conditioned coming soon

What I really like is how they “handle” their beer handles.  One of the things I see beer consumers struggle with is choosing new local beer because they’ve never had it before.  So they are largely picking their beer based on how the “name sounds” (kinda like choosing wine because of the label).  Mt Carmel’s handles actually include a detailed description of the beer which is just smart all the way around.  I also tasted the Porter (which was brewed for Dewey’s Pizza) and the Stout and was just blown away by both of the brews.  While I tasted these, Mike (owner) came by and shared that he had just had the Harvest Ale at the Main Street Tavern and how much he really liked “his own” ale.   Sorta cool in an antidotal, incidentally speaking as a side note way.   

Towards the end of our session I shared with Jared (with my tail between my legs) that I had been guilty in discounting Mt Carmel and had become overly enamored with the coolness of some of the other breweries, this is how Jared responded;

“Yeah, we’re not too cool, we just make beer. We aren't the pretty boys at the dance.  We just let the beer speak for itself.”

Just letting the brewer speak for himself….

Clyde Brewtruth
www.facebook.com/cincinnatibeer

PS...See below for pic of Mt Carmel Cow Food!