Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (Draft)

Pours orange amber with a beige head and lots of lace. Aromas of sugar, grapefruit and some earthiness. Taste is much the same and fades quickly.

Draft at Buffalo Wild Wings in Cincinnati. Pours a nice clear amber with an average off-white head. Aroma of piney hops, sweet malts, floral notes, and orange citrus. The flavor tends more toward the hops and pine- more bitter than sweet, though a little of the malt and citrus is present. Light bodied, bitter, dry hoppy finish. I haven’t had a bottle of this in a long time, but it’s not bad at all on draft.

(draught at kelly’s east side in Plano) pours orange with light creamy head. Nose is citrus hops (oranges and light grapefruit) maybe some pineapple too. Taste is pineapple hops, light bitterness, nice malt to back it up. Very well balanced and drinkable.

Pours a clear copper bronze with a copious head. Hops are noticeable upfront on the nose, both piney and sweet. Has the sticky aroma of sap as well. Taste is strangely subdued. Almost a bland quality to the mouthfeel and flavor. Has a nitrous feel with the creaminess but does not carry any weight with the hops. This is most disappointing. Perhaps it’s the tap but this has a sad little amount of hops and backbone. If memory serves correctly, this beer in a bottle was a completely different animal for me.

The Sierra flagship product. A great beer with decent hop presence in the nose and flavor. Color and head are amber and medium, respectively, and both are about average for the style. Crisp taste and finish. Pretty solid.

A very good, drinkable pale ale, a reliable favorite with my crowd. Lovely to look at and to smell. Enough hops and malt to introduce people to the style without scaring them off.

Draft @ Sierra Tap House. Pours a bright, clear orange color; fluffy white head with great retention and fine-bubbled lacing; great pour. Basic toasty and dry aroma with a solid amount of orange / citrus and earthy bitterness; a bit lighter than expected. Medium mouthfeel: beautifully drinkable, balanced beer with lots of citrus and mineral hoppiness; juicy, nicel yoasted, and slightly softer presence than the bottle version overall; great beer, and very fresh at this location. Lengthy finish: citrus and earthiness, bitter, very nicely dry.

Enjoyed via tap in a pub glass. The beer pours a medium amber to slightly light copper color, with a creamy white head that stays with the beer until is is about 3/4 finished. Cascade hops come through in the nose, but buttressed more with a moderate crystal malt character. This seems to be a bit of a departure from the bottled version, as the latter seems to give a little more hps and a little less malt in the aroma. Another difference seems to be in the character of the palate. It starts out nicely bitter, but then is dominated by a low-crystal sweetness that pushes hop flavor and pretty much everything else out of the way. It is not an unpleasant character, but is perhaps a bit heavy-handed, especially given the fact that the sweetness is almost candy-like instead of being malty. The finish dries out and returns some bitterness, allowing the sample to remain hightly drinkable. Overall, not quite as good as the bottled version, but still a pretty nicely done APA.