Chicagoist's "Beer of the Week:" Three Floyd's "Broodoo" Harvest Ale

By Jason Baldacci in Food on Oct 26, 2012 9:05PM

This week, we found ourselves invited to celebrate a birthday party at one of our favorite old northside haunts, the Longroom. If you ever get invited to celebrate a birthday party at the Longroom, we have two pieces of advice for you: First, definitely go. Second, most definitely take a cab.

With just a quick glance at their draft list for the evening, we were very excited to see that they had tapped a keg of "Broodoo," a Harvest Ale from Three Floyds Brewing Co. The hop tones in "Broodoo" are vibrant and overflowing, with restrained notes of tropical fruits like pineapple, guava, mango, and even coconut. There's not as much citrus in Broodoo as there is in a lot of other Three Floyds beers, but the finish does leave us with a lingering hint of bitter lemon rind. We can also detect a slight caramelization from the nutty malts they use, but this mostly just rounds out the body of the beer to let the hop flavors take center stage. At 7 percent alcohol content, Broodoo is a beautiful expression of hops and what a lot of American Craft Breweries are doing with their Harvest Ales these days.

The Harvest Ale tradition has really taken off with American brewers over the past few years, as they make these extra-special IPAs in the fall to commemorate the yearly hop harvest. Hops are usually laid out in a warm kilning room to dry after they're harvested, then kept frozen so they can be used throughout the rest of the year. To brew a Harvest Ale, however, a brewery will have hops shipped in immediately after they've been picked, and they'll throw those unprocessed hops right into the brew kettle with all of their natural moisture and oily aromas. This method is sometimes called 'wet-hopping,' and it's the reason why Harvest Ales are incredibly fragrant, potent, and fresh enough to make your gums tingle.

Look for Broodoo on tap at Longroom and the Skylark, or in 22oz bottles at Red and White Wines and other fine retailers across the city.