Sierra Nevada India Pale Ale

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

Very much like their Pale Ale but with fewer floral aromatics and more simple hop bitterness. Certainly very bitter but with little fresh hop aroma or flavor. Drinks like a stronger British-styled IPA. The usual neutral California ale yeast profile with a fairly light body with little to no maltiness. A very pleasant and refreshing beer.

A solid effort by SN, maybe not as much as to be expected (given west coast IPA’s and SN’s status), but good none-the-less. Hoppy and bitter upfront, not much malt presence with a crisp finish.

Pretty standard Sierra Nevada fare....pretty fruity to sweet on the tongue and increasingly bitter aftertaste, as one would expect with this brand. Very drinkable and would have another at any time.

this is a strange beer for sierra nevada. because the bigfoot, celebration, and snpa is definately great. so you would automatically think this IPA has got to be off the hizzow. copper orange hue with a tan big bubbly head. weaps away quickly. nose of sweet malt and citrus pine hops. more malt character here then i expected from this beer and less big hop character. bitter hopping is up and not in a good grapefruit way more of a clingly resiny harsh way. some cut greens but not as fresh as grass and more tang oriented. not sure of what style of hops they are using. imo like snpa with a bit more bittering hops. average ipa.

Aroma is hops n spice, maybe a hint of malt. Perhaps also a hint of pine. Beautiful ruby/orange color, but I couldn’t get a head. There’s a bit of malt in here, but the hops keep it well in bounds. I find orange at the onset, and the body is firm. Great mouthfeel. It went really well with Korma and masala, balancing the heat of the spices nicely. So how good is it that an IPA works with Indian cuisine? Very. Great stuff. The draft I had was months ago, but I think the bottle stands up well to draft quallity.

Soapy moon cratered head. Orange and yellow body. Nose is cascades and simicoe. Loemon citrus and cut greens. Flavour is orange blossom honey and a nice hopiness. Typical to the style, yet it pronounces individuality.

2006 bottle sent by Notalush. Pours a very clear copper orange with cloud like clean white head, and above average carbonation. The aroma is a grassy/spicy hop and a light biscut malt. It is crisp and caries a unique character. The flavors are sharp; spicy and grassy hops up front and an active tang at the back. Earthy hop flavors come a little later along with a bit of a ballancing malt. I begin to notice that it’s not as strong as I would expect from a West Coast IPA, but it is a nicely built, clean unique IPA. The bitterness seems to recharge halfway through and lingers at the back of the throat and the kick of IPA hoppiness that I felt was initially lacking comes in the form of pine and lingers nicely on the finish. A nice roller-coaster experience on this one.

Draft. Nose-medium PNW hops. Taste-well done malt backbone backed up by good spicy hops. An excellent use of hops to balance out a moderatly agressive sweet malt backbone.