Sierra Nevada 2007 Celebration Ale

Beer: Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
Brewery Location: Chico, CA
Beer Style: American IPA
Serving Style: Bottle
ABV: 6.8%


I need to get better about my beer buying/consuming/stockpiling of beer. I can't go to the store and not bring something back or refuse a trade for something I haven't had before. Every now and then I find beer that I forgot about, and this is one of those beers. After consuming this I am thinking why the hell was I waiting?

I've said it before but Sierra Nevada is one of my favorite craft breweries. I've been very happy with almost all of their offerings, and they are very easy to find at very reasonable prices.

This beer pours a blazing copper color with two fingers of bubbly white head that collapsed down very quickly, but left a small blanket of head for the entire beer. It left really nice lacing on the walls of my pint glass. The smell is distinctly Sierra Nevada. Their robust use of cascade and chinook hops are not missed on the nose. Scents of ripe citrus fruit along with a certain grassy earthiness that I find appealing. A slight scent of caramel malt is also trying to reach my nose. The taste is a balance of the citrus flavor from the hops and the sweet caramel malt. Upfront is the flavor of the hops and the sweet malt rounds everything out just right. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and slightly above average carbonation that leaves a dry finish on the back of my palate. The drinkablity is nice on this beer and I am glad I got to this winter offering at what is hopefully the end of winter.

I really enjoyed this beer. It is a well made IPA that isn't a hop bomb, but a bold and well balanced beer that would be nice for hop-heads and beer lovers. I will look forward to this beer again next winter or more of this years offering because I am pretty sure Party Pak still has some of this beer left on their shelves.

Cheers!
Matt

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale

Beer: Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale
Brewery Location: Chico, CA
Beer Style: Barleywine
Serving Style: Bottle
ABV: 9.6%


Sierra Nevada's seasonal Bigfoot just came out in Indiana a few weeks ago. I've been meaning to stop at Party Pak and pick some up, but just haven't made it. I was afraid that there wouldn't be any left when I got there, but there was plenty left on the shelves, and for a pretty good price. I really enjoy Sierra Nevada's beers and the company itself. Their beers are an extremely reasonable price, always consistent quality, and are one of the most visible craft brewers in America. You can find their pale ale in about any liquor store or grocery store you walk into, and I've found it to be a great gateway beer for people looking to convert.

A barleywine was traditionally the heaviest alcoholic beer that a brewery offered. It gets the name from being highly alcoholic close to that of wine, but since it is made from grain it must carry the moniker of "barley-wine style ale." I am not sure what person was bored enough to draft some type of legislation for that, but I need their job. Double IPA's and barleywines are somewhat similar, but a barleywine will usually be more balanced with a bigger malt presence and a more complex flavor profile. That is not always the case, but those are some of the usual differences.

This beer pours a dark reddish/garnet hue with one finger of white head. The head dissipated very quickly on this, but at 9.6% that can be expected. The nose is classic for Sierra Nevada. Bold hop characteristics showing signs of all of the C-hops with citrus and pine making themselves known on the nose. The taste brings a blast of powerful malt with the bitter hop flavoring right behind it. I taste big flavors of resinous pine, grapefruit, and sweet caramel. The sweet malt and bitter hops are very well done on this brew. At 9.6% the alcohol is present as well, but is in no way cloying at all in the flavor profile. The mouthfeel is big, chewy, and sticky with the alcohol warmth only slightly making itself known. The drinkability is very good on this brew, and I would gladly purchase again.

This is a damn fine example of a barleywine style ale. I bought several from Party Pak, and I am going to cellar a few and see that does to the beer. I have a feeling that more time on this will greatly enhance the flavor profile when the hops mellow out a bit more. This is a good starter beer for people wanting to try the barleywine style ales. It is rather bitter, but this hop-head doesn't mind that at all. Good effort from Sierra Nevada on this one.

Cheers!
Matt

Three Floyd's Harvest Ale

Beer: Three Floyd's Harvest Ale
Brewery Location: Munster, IN
Beer Style: American IPA
Serving Style: Bomber
ABV: 6.5%


I've really been looking forward to this since I learned it was out in bottles this year. They have been making it for several years, but I do believe this is the first year that it was ever bottled. I picked up a bottle at The Hop Shop the other night.

Harvest Ale is an ale that is made using "wet" hops. That means the hops are undried when added to the beer. The undried hops preserves more natural hop resins and fragrant oils. According to the bottle it states "from vine to brewhouse in one day." I am curious where these hops are coming from in that time frame. FFF's usually has some interesting artwork on the bottles, but this one is personally one of my least favorites, but don't hold that against the beer.

The beer pours a beautiful copper/orange color into my pint glass. This has a nice color for the fall season. There isn't much head to speak of for this beer. I poured in a very unaggressive manner, so that may have something to do with it. It does leave a nice swirl of lacing that stayed for most of the beer and left ample lacing on my glass. The aromatics on this beer are top notch. You can easily pick up the citrus hop resin scent on this as you are pouring it. The nose is just really nice to smell for a bit. I can pick up a bit of bready malt also coming through, but doesn't have much of a chance against the hops. The taste matches the nose very well. Pine, citrus, and grapefruit flavors are the first things that hit my taste buds, but the heavy malted backbone brings flavors of biscuits coming in. The caramel character comes to life as the beer warms. Good complex flavors going on with this beer and it is still well balanced the entire time. There isn't much carbination on this beer and the beer finishes almost creamy, but still somehow finishes a little oily as well. The drinkability is solid on this beer and would go well on about any occasion.

This has been my favorite thus far of the wet hop beers. The Sierra Nevada is a little more gentle on the palate and is also well made and well balanced. This beer is 100% a FFF's creation and would be enjoyed by a hop head. If you are not much of a hop head and still want to try the wet hop beers I would go with the Sierra Nevada over this, but if you love IPA's I give this one the nudge over SN.

Sierra Nevada's Harvest Ale

Beer: Sierra Nevada's 2007 Harvest Fresh Hop Ale
Brewery Location: Chico, CA
Beer Style: American Pale Ale
Serving Style: Bottle
ABV: 6.7%


I was in Party Pak the other day and picked up a bottle of this years Harvest Ale. This is my first experience with the Harvest Ale, but I like Sierra Nevada and I've heard great things about this, so it was an easy choice. According to the bottle this is the 11th year for this special brew, and they used 8,000 lbs of hops in one day brewing this. I don't really care about them talking about that, because the proof is in the pudding (or in this case the beer).

This beer poured a nice amber/copper hue with a thick dense tan head that was a full three fingers worth. The head had good retention and left a decent amount of lacing on my imperial pint glass. With a name like Harvest Ale you would expect the scent of hops and this beer delivers. This is one of the best smelling APA's I've ever smelled. Strong scents of grapefruit and pine with slight grassy overtones. The scent is very pleasant and never leaves throughout the entire beer. The taste is just like the nose. Flavors classic of an easy drinking IPA with a good malty backbone that balances out the hops very well and doesn't let them overpower the beer. It is a well balanced beer that finished very smooth with very little bittering. Very nice considering the amount of hops that went into this beer. The mouthfeel is very smooth and slightly sticky. It coats the mouth very well and overall is very quaff able. Drinkability also holds very high for this beer. It's fresh, tasty, and it leaves you wanting another one.

This is just a very well made beer. It's crisp and refreshing. It provides so much more flavor than most APA's, but is better made than most IPA's. This is really a very nice beer and should enjoyed if you can find some. Party Pak had plenty when I was there. I just wish this beer would be available all year long, because I would find myself drinking it quite often, and this would probably be my go-to-beer (Sorry Two Hearted). This would be a perfect gateway beer for people that are looking to move on from BMC.

4.4 out of 5
Cheers!
Matt