Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (Draft)

Brewed by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Style: American Pale Ale
Chico, California USA

Draft. Pours hazy orange with a thin, modest white head. Aroma of dry hops, earth, lemon zest, malts, and hints of clove. Medium bodied with a nice, smooth mouthfeel. Snappy, crisp finish. Much better on tap than in bottles. Good pale ale.

Was their hopped up Extra Special Pale Ale on tap. Not the standard version... The beer pours to an average looking copper body with a thin white head. The aroma is wet hopped cascades but not catty and pretty balanced with malt. Subtle. The flavor is sweet hoppy cascades and has a much more balanced taste than the bottled version. The palate is easily sessionable and is super clean. This was a really quick pint to drink.

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.