Sierra Nevada Anniversary Ale

Sampled at Brew at the Zoo at the National Zoo in Washington DC. The girl pouring the sample said that this was her favorite of all the Sierra Nevada beers. Whoop dee doo. Pours a orangey copper with a very frothy, active white head. Smells fairly standard, wasn’t overloaded with hops, just a touch of grains and biscuits. Mild nose to say the least. Flavor was the same, some citrus, some bread, nothing to knock your socks off. Finish was a little bitter, but fairly weak. The cascade hops should have been the star, instead this was one of the more disappointing beers I tried all night.

2008 Lemony hoppy nose, slight pine and caramel notes. Orange gold color with slight haze, big long lasting head. Sweet biscuity malts, great citrusy bitter balance. Full body, aggressive carbonation, smooth mouth feel and big finish. Really satisfying well put together beer.

12 oz bottle from 08. Poured a clear copper with a thin off white head. Very nice piny hoppy nose.Flavor is not quite as hoppy as the nose led me to believe, but none the less a charged up version of the SN pale ale, with similar characteristics.But, definitely bigger, and more flavorful. Very nice fruity bitter finish. Much Much better than the green bottle.Very drinkable beer.

12oz bottle. If my decoder ring worked I believe this was bottled about mid-July. I guess printing 7/15/08 is too easy for the Sierra Nevada guys so I had to get my calculator out. Anyways, the beer pours brilliantly clear, copper gold color with a quality, soapy and foamy white head that leaves pretty darn amazing lacing. Aroma is intensely grassy hops (though not in a bad way), sweet citrus, grapefruit, orange, lemon zest. The intensity is medium. Not what I would consider a strong IPA level but the hops are definitely big and bright. Flavor is mildly bitter, kind of perfect on the bitterness really, with a nice malt background providing light caramel notes. This tastes a lot like an amped up SNPA which is a good thing. This is pretty swell.

Kind of mild for a Sierra Nevada beer, A nice copper hue with a white head that had nice retention. Aroma had less of a pine note then I’m accustomed too and more sweet malt notes. Flavor was good but a too malty.

rerate I bought a six pack of this thinking I had never tried it before. I’m surprised I gave it such a low rating last year. Maybe my tastes have changed since then. But this is an excellent IPA. Full of strong ascade aroma and flavors. Moderate to heavy bitterness. Not as good as the Torpedo though.

Bottle. Transparent golden with a large white head. The aroma is citrus hops. The flavor is mild, a balanced mix of pine and hops, but nothing extravagant. Mildly bitter finish. A nice all around IPA but rather average. Aug. 20, 2008 [7.4.7.3.14]

Tapped here at a local pub. Golden and clear with huge head. The flavor was much more mild than other ipa’s. I like my pine and citrus in my ipa’s and this seemed to not accentuate either of those flavors.

Copper color with huge white head. Smells of hops, caramel, and malt. Nice balance. Crisp and refreshing.