Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale

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

‘05-12 oz bottle-pours a foamy off white head that laces and hazy amber/orange color with suspended yeast. Aroma is medium malt-caramel, fruit-peach?, spices. Taste is spices, light malt, alcohol, hops bitterness, all hit at once. Finishes with spices, nutty, hops bitterness. Good carbonation. Occasional. 070525-rerate-5th out of an ’05 six pack, much smoother, nice. 3.7

2003: Deep amber robe, hazy, well-laced white head from which a good part never disappears. Rich citrus (grapefruit) aroma with notes reminiscent of the christmas tree (piney, resinous, herbal). Good hop character, finish is moderately bitter, just hoppy enough I found. Medium body, good balance. It’s certainly good, but it doesn’t impress me.
2004: Superb appearance, generous head never leaves. Earthy, creamy grapefuity, big hops flavor. Straightforward and classic. It makes you say it’s well balanced, but at the same time, malt is kind of hidden. Probably a 3.5.

This is georgous. Aroma is beautiful, hoppy to an extreme level, grassy, citrus, just yes. Taste is also seriously hoppy, and very bitter, but theres anough malt character to balance it out nicely. Such a plesent suprise, excellent beer. Rerating 2007 batch: A top notch hoppy grapefruit, lychee with toffee malt backing ipa. Dangerously drinkable.

This beer rocks. To quote a friend, this was like drinking "Liquid Christmas." The aroma is lightly malty and very floral. Notes of spruce, pine, juniper and every other evergreen thrown in for christmas kicks. Without a single taste, I can tell I’m in for a very Left Coast hop experience. I also detected notes of nutmeg, cinnomon and vanilla. This sparkling clear, dark amber ale has a small, creamy white head. The head is mostly lasting. A beautiful ale. Flavor? Oh yeah, there’s flavor. Forget the malt, this is a HOP experience. Very spicey and moderately bitter up front and... whadaya know, exactly the same on the backside. Drinking this medium-bodied ale is like chewing on pine needles, spruce bark or roasted juniper berries. Does anyone actually roast juniper berries? I doubt it. Watery mouthfeel. Fizzy carbonation. A long, bitter, spicey, earthy dry finish. Leave a nice holiday flavor in the mouth. Hey HopHeads, Merry Fucking Xmas!!!

2002 sampled on 12/6/2002: Upon opening, the aroma of fresh hops fills the room. The pour yields a medium copper colored ale with a pillowy head. The taste is initially sweet becoming more bitter and hoppy at the end. The bitterness is still a bit sharp and sort of coats the back of my throat. I think this could use a year of aging. The alcohol is well masked and this beer shows lots of potential.

Re-Rate 10/14/03: Still tastes like I remember it. A good clean crisp IPA with nice malt and hop balance.

Second rerate (still 2002 vintage) 6/10/2004: Still don’t notice much change. Maybe a little mellowing of the hops, but still pretty floral and bitter. This has kept very well, a classic IPA.

2002 vintage - pale amber colour, big initial head which is quickly reducing, deep flowery hoppy nose (thank you, Cascade), very bitter, medium-bodied, flowery, dry and bitter hoppy finish - one-dimensional and below my expectations

2002 Bottle: Yep, liked it, like their Pale ale, this was nice and soft, with a perfumy flowery, piney hop nose, i could sniff this for a while. Very well balanced flavour, the start is sweetish malty with a bit of raisins or something, with a failry sharp, bitter, grapefruity hop finish, very tasty, and thankfully not over the top, very yummy.

2003 vintage Off-white head, falling away fast over hazy orange-amber ale. Sweetish cookies and cake-bottom with a whiff of hops. Little aroma of sweetened juniperberries. Mix raisins, lychees, cookies, cardemoms, cloves, honey-laden flowers, apples and a lot of (American) hops into a very evenly mix, and one might come near to this. Retronasal some resiny harshness. Well-bodied without appearing very heavy, slight oilyness, typical for an American beer. Superb, superb balance giving both a restrained and a rich feeling. Thanks to Logan Perkins.