Bright Brewery Hop Harvest Ale 2020 & Affogato Stout

Style
Harvest Ale & Affogato Stout
ABV
5.5% & 5.3%

There can be a tendency when playing with wet hops rushed from farm to fermenter (or whirlpool or wherever a brewer decides to add them to their brew) to end up extracting a subdued, more mellow, sometimes grassy character as they've not been dried and thus had their unique character distilled. That's very much not the case here with Bright's 2020 Hop Harvest Ale. Brewer Reid Stratton has taken the Ella variety – a relative of Galaxy – and squeezed a vibrant and intense fruitiness from the cones grown just a short drive along the road. There's juicy Navel oranges, ripe melon, zesty citrus, even hints of red berries and a balancing candy sweetness, with little of the hop's spicier side to be seen. Really quite lovely.

As for the other can leaving the brewery at the same time, well, let's just say it's not backwards in coming forwards. There's a dark to the point of burnt roasted coffee beans as the top note in this Affogato Stout, but that's pretty all that's sharp about it; the remainder is as rounded as a sumo wrestler in retirement. Aromas of a hazelnut and caramel syrup-laced coffee rise alongside something that brings back memories of the dark top of my mum's crème caramel. And while there's a dark roasted coffee bitterness lurking within the jet black liquid, there's just as much vanilla ice cream dropped in its midst too. An overload in a glass – and just 5.3 percent ABV too.

James Smith

Published April 30, 2020

Name
Bright Brewery
Address

121 Great Alpine Road
Bright
VIC 3741

Phone
(03) 5755 1301
Open Hours

Daily: 11am to evening

Regular events

Sundays: Live music in the beer garden

Tours

Last Friday of every month (excl PH)
Every Friday of Vic school holidays from 3pm
$35 for guided brewery tour and tasting paddle

CBCo Goldy
Pickled OnMarket

More from Bright Brewery

Bright Brewery Fred's Apricot NEIPA, North East Victorian IPA & Chocopalooza
Various
6.30%, 6.5% & 5.5%
Bright Brewery Pūteketeke & Yuzu Sweetart Sour
NZ Pilsner & Yuzu Sour
5.0% & 4.3%
Bright Brewery Irrationally Hazy, Big Jolly Boi & Lemonade Radler
Oat Cream Pale, West Coast IPA & Lemonade Radler
5.4%, 6.6% & 4.0%
Bright Brewery Peach And Vanilla Sour
Frutied Sour
4.0%
Bright Brewery Doggobrau & Cattobrau
Tropical XPA
4.5%
Bright Bright Brewery Pumpkin Spiced Latte Brown Ale
Spiced Brown Ale
5.5%
Bright Brewery x Carwyn Cellars Le Monstres du Chateau
Barrel-Aged Imperial Stouts
Both 11.0%
Bright Brewing Any Day XPA
Midstrength XPA
2.9%
Bright Brewery Dad Bod Lychee IPA
Lychee IPA
6.3%
Bright Brewery MechaRoo (With Coedo) & Cherry Pie Stout
Sour Hazy IPA & Cherry Stout
Both 6.0%
Bright Brewery & Friends Frostfire
Australian Strong Ale
8.0%
Bright Brewery Affogato Stout & Stubborn 2023
Affogato Stout & Imperial Stout
5.5% & 16.0%
Bright Brewery Cold & Wet & King Konge IPAs
Fresh Hop Cold IPA & Kveik IPA
6.5% & 6.0%
Bright Brewery Mystic & Cucumber & Basil Ale
DDH DIPA & Sour
9.0% & 4.0%
Bright Brewery Lemonade Shandy & Big Jolly Boi
Shandy & Christmas Ale
3.5% & 7.0%
Bright Brewery (& Pocketbeagles) The Spicy Beagle & Halloween Ale
Mango, Lime & Chilli Sour & Pumpkin Ale
4.5% & 6.0%
Bright Brewery Vienna Lager & Lemon Myrtle & Wattleseed Imperial Pastry Sour
Vienna Lager & Imperial Pastry Sour
5.0% & 7.7%
Bright Brewery Bright Pale Ale
Pale Ale
4.0%
Bright Brewery Pina Colada IPA
Hazy IPA
7.0%
Bright Brewery Strawberry Dream
Milkshake Ale
5.8%