Bottle at EBF. Hazy golden, small fizzy head. Cookie like, honeyish nose, little sulphur and hops. Clean malty flavor, fruity hops, yeast. Quite boring, sterile bitter. Medium bodied, fizzy carbonation.

Another solid beer from Sierra Nevada. Good for its class. Hops stand out but don’t steal the show. Nice tiny bubble head that leaves a distinct lace.

Crushed with Jakebra. Little chlorine on the nose with the hops, but not as hoppy as I expected. Flavor leaves a lot to be desired with a hardly-anything-there finish. A little hop bitterness, but compared to Rogue Brutal Bitter, this is nothing.

[Bottle] Pours a coppery gold with a small off white head. Aroma is some citric hops and biscuity malt. Flavor matches and doesn’t have any major notable characteristics.

07-Jul-08 (12-oz bottle: BevMo in La Jolla, CA) This 2008 Early Spring Beer is a Sierra Nevada product through and through. Remarkably clean, technically flawless and pushing the balance envelope toward a more hop-centric beer. Grainy malt base flavors with just a hint of caramely sweetness, but the maltiness takes the supporting role without calling attention to itself. This allows the moderately strong, floral and earthy hop flavors and medium bitterness to take charge, finish with authority, and define the beer, which so often is the case with a Sierra Nevada brew. Mildly fruity, no diacetyl, crisp and very clean, perhaps too clean and perfect because the beer lacks charm. Medium in body and carbonation. The nose is grainy, earthy, and a bit cheesy, but the beer isn’t caramely at all, and the delicate floral hop fragrance is easily overwhelmed by the other aromas if the beer is swirled in the glass. Golden-amber body, and unless the glass is held to a light source, the haziness almost conceals the streams of carbonation bubbles as they rise to the surface. The creamy, off-white head pours to an inch in height, settling slowly to a thin but complete layer, leaving a few large, dense patches of lace on the glass. A technically excellent beer overall, but like many of the Sierra Nevada products, it leaves me lacking in enthusiasm.