Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Pale Ale

The Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. has been brewing beer for thirty-seven years. They were one of the first craft beer breweries in the United States. One of their first beers and their flagship brew, Pale Ale, 5.6% is probably the most popular beer that they brew. When I have traveled to Europe I found it being sold in England and Sweden, and the Swedish beer drinkers find Sierra Nevada Pale Ale quite good, as we do here in the U.S. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is brewed with whole-cone Cascade hops and is bottle-conditioned, which means the last part of the brewing process (final fermentation) is done in the bottle. So you might get some sediment particles in your bottle and/or glass. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is the base beer for their newest beer, Side Car Orange Pale Ale. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale pours a copper-gold color with a one and a half finger of somewhat fizzy white head with a little retention. The aroma is earthy with pine notes and touches of slight grass. Taste is classic Pale Ale with earthy grassy pine notes and a slight hoppy bitterness on the back of the mouth. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is also refreshing and easier to drink than some pale ale I’ve come across. The mouthfeel is light with a nice piney earthy and slightly bitter finish. After taste is there with a slight earthy bitterness just for a moment then it fades away. Overall this beer is good but Sierra Nevada Pale Ale doesn’t blow me away but its a very solid drinkable pale ale and show you what the definition of a pale ale taste like. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is a B+. Good solid beer without overdoing it for thirty-seven years strong and counting. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. 2017 Beer Camp Golden IPA

You might think there is sort of a theme going on with Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. beers, there’s not, I just happen to like the Sierra Nevada beers. They brew some great beers. This Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. 2017 Beer Camp Golden IPA, 6.5% is a new beer for the spring season from their Beer Camp series of beer and is only available this spring. Each year Sierra Nevada brews a different beer for each season. Golden IPA pours a clear golden color with a bright tow and a quarter finger white head with good retention, and leaves behind nice white whipped lacing. The aroma is more on the Pilsner side with a little bit of hoppy pine and earth notes and some lemon citrus cues. Taste is easy on the taste buds with light lemon citrus with faint underling earthy and pine notes. The mouth feel is somewhat light with a nice but light clean hoppy citrus finish and a after taste that is a touch on the dry side with a little lemon with a little hop tingle. But as this Golden IPA warms the hop become more present as does the earth notes. This beer is easy to drink giving this an A+. Something I highly recommend drinking. It is not overpowering on your taste buds nor is it too hoppy. It’s just right and refreshing. I was nicely pleased on how good it was. I would go right back for another, and so should you! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!  

Birdsong Brewing Co. Doin' Thyme Witbier, Ale Brewed with Spices

Witbier is widely popular with all beer drinkers, whether it’s craft or not, people seem to enjoy the Witbier style, such as Blue Moon being the most popular Witbier. Birdsong Brewing Co. here in Charlotte, NC brews Doin’ Thyme Witbier, 4.3% ABV. Usually this style of beer is brewed with spices such as coriander but Doin’ Thyme is brewed with thyme grown from 100 Gardens, hence the name. Doin’ Thyme pours a hazy deep but light yellow like color with a bright two finger head with some good retention, that leave decent lacing behind. The aroma is lemony with some citrus notes and some slight spiciness. Taste is similar with lemon flavor with slight citrus notes with a faint spice note towards the back with a thyme note hanging in the background that rounds out this beer. The mouth feel is full and round with a nice semi sweet lemony thyme finish that lingers and coats the mouth with lemon thyme after taste. This is an awesome A+ that I highly recommend trying. Birdsong Brewing Co. Doin’ Thyme Witbeer is well balanced witbier with an interesting herb/spice added to that adds a great flavor overall. Go out and try Birdsong Brewing Co. Doin’ Thyme Witbeer and see how good it really is! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Tropical Torpedo Tropical IPA

A few days ago I reviewed Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Torpedo Extra IPA which is the base beer for another Sierra Nevada beer, Tropical Torpedo Tropical IPA, 6.7% ABV, both beers use the one of a kind Sierra Nevada Torpedo hop. Tropical Torpedo is a fairly new year-round beer. Sierra Nevada Brewing says on the back label that Tropical Torpedo is inspired by island life, and they created am IPA completely disconnected from the mainland. Tropical Torpedo pours nice golden color with a three and a half finger of white head with some bubbles within it. The head is somewhat slow to fade in to a thin white hazy top to the beer. The aroma is as topical as I was expecting, but there are some tropical notes to it, like nice pineapple, and faint mango. Didn’t get any other tropical fruits on the aroma. Tropical Torpedo has a nice fruiter taste to it from is sibling Torpedo, you get nice pineapple, some mango and little notes of papaya with some bitterness toward the middle and back of the mouth. The mouthfeel is light almost medium with a nice bitter tropical finish that sends you into an after taste of pineapple mango and very faint papaya with a bigger bitterness, but nothing overwhelming. This beer is more on the fruitier side of the IPA spectrum, which I tend to like a bit more, but it wasn’t as tropical as I was expecting it to be, but still pretty good. I give Sierra Nevada Tropical Torpedo Tropical IPA a B. Some of the tropical fruits came through stronger than other and all of those fruits should have been slightly more pronounced in their flavors. But that’s not so bad that it kills this otherwise good IPA.  Tropical Torpedo is a good beer for any time of year especially spring and summer. So go and try Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Tropical Torpedo, Tropical IPA if you like fruity tasting IPAs. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!    

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Torpedo Extra IPA

The past few months I’ve really grown a liking of Sierra Nevada beer. I’ve always enjoyed their beers. They brew great beers have been doing great brewing for as a very long time. But I have more of a fondness for Sierra Nevada beer. Torpedo Extra IPA, 7.2% ABV is a classic beer from Sierra Nevada. They have been brewing that beer since day one or pretty close to that. Torpedo Extra IPA has an IBU of 65, which is a little above average for an IPA. Torpedo Extra IPA pours a deep copper color with a three-finger pillow-like white head that is slow to fade into a bright white halo. The aroma is of onions, some garlic, pine notes. This Torpedo Extra IPA is dank and strong-smelling. Taste is pretty similar to the aroma, you find the garlic and onion flavors wrapped in pine and hop flavor with the slightest earthy flavor and a stronger alcohol note. Torpedo Extra IPA finishes with a more malted flavor that leads to a bitter dank after taste that lingers until cleansing your palate or taking another sip. This beer, Torpedo Extra IPA is good, B+ good. I like the stronger flavor on this, and it not overly strong, just enough. So if you like stronger IPAs then I recommend Torpedo Extra IPA. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!