Sierra Nevada's Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale and Laughing Dog's Sneaky Pete

Hey folks! It sure has been a while, hasn't it? I am a little behind on my blogging; sorry about that! I'm afraid I've been a little busy with school work and such, so it is what it is. Anyways, last weekend my friend and neighbor retired after 24 years in the Navy (Daaaaang, right?) and we celebrated down at the beach. I brought two IPA's, Laughing Dog's Sneaky Pete and Sierra Nevada's Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale. Let's start with Sneaky Pete.

Sneaky Pete poured a dark, hazy gold with a yellow-white head. A whiff of this big beer reveals huge, sweet malts on the nose. I took a moment to recheck the bottle for ABV, and saw the expected big 10% that the malty nose suggested. Take it slow with this one folks! Very sweet malts follow through on the taste with just a little bitter tinge. Citrus hops follow, and then a bit of a bite from the alcohol wrapped it up. I always expect that bite out of most beers over 9%, but Sneaky Pete masks it fairly well. All in all, this beer is a great, big IPA that should be savored and sipped.

Next up was the Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale. Pouring a clear gold with a one finger off white head, this IPA has fresh, grassy hops on the nose. Its also worth noting that this beer left lots of nice, delicate lacing. Some people don't care about that but hey, I enjoy it. The taste reveals nice, piney hops followed up with by just little bit of sweet malts. This is a very smooth, balanced beer, and it is not very bitter. It is too bad this doesn't come in 12 ounce bottles, it would make a great beer in six packs! It isn't real light on the alcohol (6.7%ABV), but it is still very drinkable. In closing, I have a bottle of the Northern Hemisphere Harvest Ale too, and I will be enjoying that soon, so stay tuned for that review! Cheers!