Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA

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

Aug. 4, 2009; 12 oz. bottle. Sierra Nevada brews consistently-excellent beers, and they’ve knocked it out of the park with this one. As an IPA, it tops the very good, but slightly unbalanced & harsh, "Celebration Ale" they’ve brought out seasonally. Perfectly-balanced -- i.e., not over-the-top "hoppy" -- with a long, pleasingly-bitter palate that’s equal parts hops & alcohol. As a big fan of the brewery & the style, it’s difficult to imagine how this could be topped.

Polished copper with orange and amber highlights, the light reflects her beauteous visage. A fluffy white head quickly recedes into a blanket of pockmarked puffs that linger for the whole show. A vigorous swirl explodes into a massive outbreak of lace as her nose reaches out and slaps me in the face. I was paying attention, I swear. Grass and leaves atop a damp forest floor, fauna and flowers and crushed pine needles melting into one earthy piney presence which leads directly into grapefruit, waxy citric skin, tangelos, and tangerines. Lemon and lime zest tickles as brown dry spices, nutmeg and cinnamon sticks, mingle with a continuous undercurrent of fresh honey. Eager to savor my first quaff, I lick my lips and drink deep of her glistening bounty. She is immediately mouth-coating and sweet, but quickly fades to bitter and dry, sending tingles up and down the top of my tongue. Her sweetness resides solidly in the front and back of her palate, while the middle is left wide-open for an assault of grass, pine needles, and grapefruit. Her finish isn’t long, surprisingly, with only faint lingering wisps of honey and spice. My Sierra Nevada Torpedo is highly refreshing with each sup easily bringing me back for another. She is uses her west-coast hops and malts with skill and grace that I would partially attribute to almost 3 decades of brewing finesse. As I see the end looming upon the horizon, a steady backdrop of dry, bittering citric skins linger in the center of my palate after her juicy and sweetly spiced palate moves on. Simple and yet complex at the same time, one thing I do understand is that my Torpedo is gone, gone, gone.

Bravo, Sierra Nevada. Once more you have proven your brewing prowess and have livened up your long-standing portfolio with a stellar Imperial IPA. Her refreshingly drinkability in the face of massive west coast hops serves to further prove that there is nothing to fear in flavor but fear itself. I look forward to enjoying Torpedo for many more decades to come.

Another damn solid beer from SN. Moving, it was absurdly hot and humid, and this beer is bracingly bitter, cold and delicious. Strong pine flavor, excellent aroma, very full flavor, complex, yet not overwhelming. Like Celebration it’s just an excellent IPA.

This is a very good beer if you like hops. Some will say it’s too hoppy, but come on, it’s Sierra Nevada and it’s going to be hoppy!

Bottle. Poured clear copper with a white head. Aroma of piney hops, caramel, malt, grass. Taste is malty sweet and piney hopped. Finish is bitter. Body is average, and carbonation is average. Overall, a decent IPA. My bottle may not have been the freshest. Would like to try on tap or in a fresher bottle.

Bottle at Bishops Arms. Karlstad. Pours a copper color with a nice white lasting head. Aroma is hoppy with pine, grass, grapefruit, but also caramel and toffee. Flavour is pretty sweet and caramely/toffeeish at first, but then the piny, grassy, grapefruity flavours kicks in a nice balance. Finishes with a nice lingering bitterness. Mediumbodied mouthfeel, carbonation is medium and quite refreshing. A nice beer in my opinion, it was a bit cold at first so I was a bit dissapointed but after it warmed it became really nice. A good IPA which I will buy again.

chico, you people never stop blowing my mind. another great beer from the people who bring us the best widely available brews on the planet. we all know what IPAs taste like. this is a good one.