246. Sierra Nevada Sidecar Orange Pale Ale

While working in Charlotte, I went with a co-worker to this Murphy's Kitchen & Tap in Uptown.  They were serving $3 draft pints, which meant I was going to help myself to a couple beers.  For the first one, I decided to go with the Sierra Nevada seasonal at the time, which happened to be the Sidecar.  

The beer was served in the standard pint with a half finger of head.  Average retention, leaving a few splotches of lacing on the glass.  I detect aromas of tangerine, pummelo, orange peel, and grassy hops.  Bitter finish lingers but not for too long.

The taste is less muted with the tropical essence, but the taste of tangerine, pummelo and grapefruit peel are still there, paired with some pale malts and some grassy and piney hops.  Average body with average carbonation.

It was a good beer, but not a great beer.  I've liked many of the offerings from Sierra Nevada and this one didn't strike me was anything memorable or special.  As someone who prefers more tropical flavors with my hoppy beers, this one should be right in my wheelhouse.  Instead, I'm just a little underwhelmed.  Can't quite put my finger on it.  Ah well, maybe it's the fact that I'm drinking it in the beginning of March.  Probably more quaffable in the Spring and Summer months.

Grade: B-
Price Paid: $3.00 (16 oz draught pint)

198. Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye IPA

I decided to go with Sierra Nevada's Ruthless Rye IPA to go with dinner.  It was bought a while ago, so some of the flavors may be different. It was poured into a stemless brandy glass.  It has a orange tinged copper color combined with two fingers of off white head.  The head has a soapy consistency to it.  Retention is average, splotches of lacing left on the interior.  Aromas of rye is predominant..now that I'm getting a feel for what rye smells like, it's not too difficult to find.  Pine notes are more predominant than citrus notes.  Other aromas of caramel and spice are also picked up.  

There's some bitterness up front from the hops, then the peppery taste of the rye comes next, the sweeter malt coming last before the rush of hops to provide the slightly bitter finish.  It's not as hop forward as expected.  The beer has a slick, oily mouthfeel.  Carbonation is average, maybe it would be more potent if I was consuming earlier in the year.  Body is also average, appropriate for the style.  

It's a pretty good beer, but I don't find the rye to be a game-changer in the IPA world.  It adds a different dimension, but I've yet to come across a rye beer that stands out.  Give this one a try if you like IPAs, but I think there are better ones out there.

Grade: B-

Price Paid: $1.90 (12 oz bottle)

152. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Wow, it's been a while since I last made an entry.  I just finished closing on a house a week ago, and then spent this week moving in.  That's why I've been AWOL.  Still, a good amount of beer was consumed over that time span, and I'm still catching up from the previous week, so I'm going to try and put a dent into my backlog.  We're starting with Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale, which I felt like drinking with some dinner.  I think most people would consider this beer one of the quintessential examples of the American Pale Ale.  How I didn't get around to trying until now..? There's a lot of beer out there..!

I went with the pilsner glass for this one.  It poured a golden orange color with two fingers of off-white head. Excellent retention and lacing that sticks to the sides.  Aromas of sweet citrus, pine, and malt.  

I'm used to milder APA offerings, so the hop-forward nature of this one could leave some folks thinking that it teeters closer to IPA.  I've had enough IPAs and DIPAs to tell the difference, and I couldn't have said that a year ago!  The bitter hops are refreshing, then the malt sweetness comes in for an incredibly balanced beer.  Carbonation is moderate, leaving a slight spicy feeling at the end.  Light to medium body.  This is a great beer that can be found in a lot of places.  The hoppier options (Torpedo) are great too, but if you don't want that kick in the mouth all of the time, go with this one.  I think I'm going to make a point of always keeping some available in the fridge.

Grade: A-

Price Paid: $1.66 (12 oz bottle)

145. Sierra Nevada Hoptimum

What was on the menu for tonight?  Leftover Chinese food from the previous night!  And what would be another good beer that would pair with Chinese?  I had no idea, but I figured an IPA would do the trick.  Lucky for me, I had Hoptimum chilling in my fridge.  

The beer poured a burnt siena color into a pilsner glass with two fingers of fluffy egg-white head.  Great retention with big splotches of lacing on the glass.  Really good looking beer.  There's some malt in the aroma, but it's predominantly pine, pine, more pine, and maybe a little bit of citrus, followed by pine.  When I look at Hoptimum, I think Torpedo IPA on steroids.  

Torpedo IPA on steroids is not a bad thing at all.  The taste is as expected, starts out with that sweet malt, followed by that explosive pine taste.  There might be some citrus in there, but I thought it was lost with the piney resin taste.  The bitterness is strong in this one (100 IBU), but it never felt all that overwhelming.  Maybe I'm just getting more used to IPAs.  It did have a slightly boozy aftertaste, which isn't too surprising since it comes in at 10.4% ABV.  It's a full bodied brew, and it's very, very good.  If you see this around and you're a bit of a hop head, don't pass this one up.  Agree or disagree?  Let me know!

Grade: B+

Price Paid: $2.59 (12 oz bottle)

141. Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Ale

Ok, so I had brought this beer with me when I went on my trip to Charlotte.  Finally got around to drinking it a few days ago after it had been sitting in my fridge for the last few weeks.  I thought it would go well with dinner (can't remember what that was though..)

The beer was poured into a stemless brandy glass.  Nice orange caramel color with two fingers of fluffy head.  Solid retention, nice sheets of lacing that sticks to the side of the glass.  I could detect caramel, candy, pine, brandy, and dark cherry in the aroma.  Very complex, it was a little on the intimidating side.

Big and bold tastes will smack you from the get go.  Caramel and toffee from the malt, along with the dark cherry and some more piney hops.  Quite boozy, you can taste the alcohol in there.  The hops will leave a slightly bitter finish to go with the sweetness in your mouth.  This is a full bodied brew with average carbonation.    Overall, I thought the beer was quite good.  I haven't had a lot of beers of the American Barleywine style and I must say that I'm still getting used to it, much like I had to get used to IPAs.  While it was still good, I have a feeling that I could appreciate it better with a few more samples of American Barleywine on my palate.  After having this, I really wished I could have gotten my hands on the bourbon barrel variant.  Someone out there get a chance to try the BBL variant?  Is it worth ti?  Let me know!

Grade: B-

Price Paid: $2.90 (12 oz bottle)

90. Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere Harvest Wet Hop Ale

Last night, I decided to crack this one open and give it a go.  I poured into a snifter glass.  Amber colored beer with about two fingers of off-white head.  Moderate retention, left some splotches of lacing on the glass, but not a whole bunch.  Aromas of malt, pine, biscuit, and grapefruit were detected.

How about that taste..?  Starts off sweet, the malts and biscuit taste on theforefront.  Then comes the onrush of piney hops that smacks you hard and leaves a significant lingering bitter taste in the mouth.  The beer tastes balanced, but the aftertaste throws that out.  I'm still getting adjusted to that bitter aftertaste, and it was just too bitter for me.  The lingering aftereffects put a bad taste in my mouth.  I found the beer to be oily and slick, with moderate carbonation.  Next year, I'd like to get this again and see if my tastes have been refined. For now, it doesn't get as high a mark in my books.

Grade: C+

Price Paid: $5.99 (22 oz bomber)

76. Sierra Nevada Narwhal Imperial Stout

While this would constitute a "blast from the past" entry, I currently poured the 3rd beer (of 4) into a snifter glass and it's sitting right in front of me, so I figured that I'd go ahead and give the Narwhal its proper review.

The beer pours a near black..it's really more of a very dark brown, as the light seems to penetrate during the pour.  I was able to conjure up almost two fingers of mocha colored head.  There's medium retention, with sheets of lacing going down the sides of the glass, along with a khaki colored film on top.  Good looking beer.  I currently have a cold, so forgive me if I can't discern all the aromas coming out of the beer.  I can smell roasted malt, some chocolate, some dark fruits (raisin) as well.  I don't know if it's the cold or not, but I wish that the aroma was more pronounced.

Upon tasting the beer, you get a little bit of malty sweetness.  The dark fruits are more pronounced, and there's a bitter finish that lingers at the end.  I can pick out some bitter chocolate, and there's a boozy finish that lets you know that this baby is 10%+ ABV.  The bitter finish can make someone thirsty for more.  I just picked up some coffee right at the tail end, so it's in there..!  There's a very creamy mouthfeel to the beer, and there's low carbonation.  The more I drink, the more I think about the Uinta Cockeyed Cooper, with its complex flavor profile.  The only thing is that they're two completely different types of beer!  I really liked Narwhal the first time I tried it, and I still like it now.  Nevertheless, it's not as impressive to me as it was when I first tried it, but this is still a solid beer for Sierra Nevada, and I'll be hoarding my other Narwhal for a few months before I finally get around to finishing it.

Grade: B+

Price Paid: $2.05 (12 oz bottle)

70. Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA

Back to back Sierra Nevada? Yessir, that's what we have here!  Last night, after a disappointing Carolina Hurricanes loss, I wallowed in my sadness and thought I could use a pick-me-up.  For those of you keeping up with my blog (which at this point is probably 0!), then you'd realize that I just bought this thing and I'm getting around to drinking it.  It was shocking the first time with the Kona.  But twice?  You saw it here first, folks!

Okay, onto the beer.  I figured that this beer would be something good.  There aren't a lot of beers that are sold as singles in the grocery stores I fervent, so for it to have a special place there..must be a special beer.  I was a little excited.  It poured a nice burnt orange color with three fingers of white head.  Light retention that left remnants of lacing all over the glass.  Very attractive looking.  The aroma wasn't as pronounced as expected.  I thought I'd get a citrus bomb.  Instead, I could pick out some of the malt aromas, with a light citrus aroma, followed by some woodsy aromas as well.  Taking a look in the bottle, I was expected to come to this conclusion, so my nose must be working.

The taste of the beer was surprisingly sweet.  It shouldn't have been a surprise, as I didn't get an overly hoppy aroma, but based on the fact that this is an American IPA, I thought that maybe it was a genius concept in the fact that it didn't smell like an IPA, but still tasted like one.  The malt sweetness with a little bit of caramel would come through first, then would come this bitter aftertaste that tasted like pine and grapefruit put together.  It wasn't a mild type of bitter either..it had some pop and could linger!  It lingered to the point that I had to take another drink.  Dry finish.  Medium to high carbonation, which was pleasant from a mouthfeel perspective.  Overall, I liked this IPA, but I think I like Sweetwater's offering more.  Still, if this was offered at a local bar, I'd hit it up for another try.  A good, solid, keeper.

Grade: B

Price Paid: $1.66 (12 oz bottle)  

69. Sierra Nevada Summerfest

Is this really the first time I've gotten to review a beer from Sierra Nevada (http://www.sierranevada.com)?  This can't be right!  I've had Narwhal..twice!  Must be some sort of things where I've forgotten to add the review, since I'm still in the process of catch-up mode.  Based on this summer release, you might think that I'm in catch-up mode now.  I assure you, that's not the case.  I had my brother buy me a six pack of this stuff back in July.  I still had one beer remaining at my parent's house and decided to crack it open.  

Now based on the fact that I'm finally getting around to opening a summer beer, I know that my opinion and thoughts could be addressed upon a skunked beer, and any bad reviews would come from that.  Normally I pour the contents of my bottle into the glass..I didn't do that with this one.  Right out of the bottle.  Couldn't get much aroma out of it either.  Note to self, always pour in a glass if you want to critique the brew.

The first few sips were kind of funky, but I began to realize that it's probably part of the beer's characteristics.  The more I drank, the more acceptable it tasted.  I'm sure it's not just me.  There were some biscuity malts with some hop kick added in there.  I'm betting that the funky tastes are part of the style..if that's the case, it's a style that I'll need to embrace, because it doesn't leave a good first impression.  I know that I've been giving Sierra Nevada a lot of props lately..they get a pass on this one.

Grade: D+

Price Paid: $1.50 (12 oz bottle)