Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale

Brewed by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Chico, California USA

Poured a deep amber with tan head. Floral hop aroma of citrus and pine. Good mouthfeel, rich and chewy with a nice hop bitterness, leaving a biting sensation in the mouth. Packs more of a punch than Pale Ale, but has many of the same characteristics. Although the added bitterness makes it less smooth, this beer satisfies the palate and finishes cleanly. Damn good.

Thanks 17thfloor! Pours golden brown with a slight red hue and a small white froth. Aroma is mediocre in strength, some citrus hop resins and grapefruit sweetness. Flavor stars with a nice bit of sweetness and a strong caramel toffee. Gains some strong hop oil bitterness through mid swallow and finishes crisp and lively. A nice comfortable bitterness that isn’t unpleasant. Medium body and high carbonation. Good beer all around through somewhat reserved in aroma.

Pours a hazy orange hue with a fluffy tan head crowning off my mug. Pleasant aroma liked spiced cider. Flavor full of citric and piney hops, pronouncedly sweet, then grapefruit bitterness on the finish. My first few sips has a less pleasant metallic edge to them, but this mellowed out. Good hops burn on the palate. Yum.

Bottle. Poured an amber color with medium carbonation. Excellent aroma; hops and nice pine spiciness. Flavor was full of malt, herbal hops, citrus and finshed with a warm pleasant bitter aftertaste. Wish they brewed this year round.

Amber hued libation folds into drinking vessel with a huge and long lasting tan head, with lacing covering the glass. Hops dominate the nose. Very creamy, this ale has a big hoppy taste with a clean and crisp finish. Definitely worth celebrating, this ale pairs well with ham and cheese or pastrami on rye.

Bottle. Pours a ruby red-amber, with a one finger fluffy off-white cap that fades quickly into a thin layer around the edges. Nice lacing. Nose is orange rind, clean, with a bit of resiny astringency underneath. Delicious. Taste is caramel malt and bright citrus up front, a bit of resiny pine, with the finish bringing more of the resiny pine alongside a bit of a medicinal astringency. Long and bitter over the entire palate. Full bodied and with an active but not overwhelming carbonation. A more robust malt backbone than often found in West Coast IPAs, this one is very nice.

You know its tick time if I am rating this, tap @ Standings Bar. Aroma has great clean hoppiness coming through with lots of grassiness and citrus peel. Its fresh and strong. Taste has a similarly great mix of hops with a nice bitterness to round it off and a dry finish. The cleanliness of the malts with the sparkling mix of the right hops really makes this the standard for brews. Its also nice to see that Sierra Nevada is still keeping it up.

12 oz. bottle. Pours nice, good head. Hops were a little too "green" for my personal taste. Wasn’t labeled as an IPA so it caught me off guard.