Harvest Moon, with a digression about oatmeal stouts

Last night, Tom and I had dinner at the Harvest Moon in New Brunswick. The first time I went was summer of 2008 with my girlfriends Lauren and Cheryl, and I have been back many times between then and now, and never let down. The food is great and they make excellent beers. Last night I tried the Harvest Hefeweizen. So good! It was served with an orange, so I tried half of it without before adding it. Both ways are really nice. It's a smooth brew, very drinkable. Reminded me a bit of a Belgian-style witbier, but still very much within the vein of unfiltered hefeweizen. (If you're wondering more about what makes them different, you can read more here or here.) I'd recommend this beer to anyone. It's not too strongly flavored, but hardly boring.

Other beers I've had at Harvest Moon:
Jimmy D's Firehouse Red: This is a brew they always have at the ready. It's a good Irish Red.

Oktoberfest: Obviously out of season now, but when it's in, it's a good Oktoberfest. It's an interesting beer, definitely has some nutty and caramelly flavors going on, but not in a weird way. It's an interesting flavor.

Pumpkin Ale: Maybe the only one of their beers that I've been disappointed about. While I generally love pumpkin anything, this pumpkin ale is too sweet for me.

Smoked Oatmeal Stout: They have this on tap now. It's very thick and strong flavored-- the fact that "smoked" is in its name does mean something. This brew has a bit of a bite, but I like my strong beers.

(An aside about Oatmeal Stouts: I've been searching for a good oatmeal stout since I had my first one at the Southend Brewery in Charleston, South Carolina while there for a conference in November of 2007. Their oatmeal stout was AMAZING, agreed everyone I went to dinner with that night. I'm sure that the longer it's been since I had the Southend stout, the better I build it up to be in my mind, but it was really good to begin with. Harvest Moon's is pretty good, but not quite what I was looking for. If anything has come close so far, it's been Samuel Smith's.)

Colleen: 192
Paul: 174