Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale

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

A long time favorite. Lots of Cascades in the nose, a tart but caramel-y middle that sweetens with a little age, and a dry finish. Tested in bottle only so far, but my favorite pub has a keg waiting.

12 oz bottle pours copper with an off white head. Aroma is of hops. Flavor is of citrus hops and some sweet caramel malts. One of my favorite IPAs. I wish it was available year round.

(Draught at Akkurat, Stockholm) Amber colour with firm beige head. Very hoppy nose with fresh hops, grapefruit, pine needles and hints of juniper bushes. Fruity, hoppy taste with grapefruit, pine needles and juniper bushes. Dry, seriously hoppy finish. Very hoppy, but the malt and alcohol gives it great balance. Superb beer.

12oz 2007 vintage. Pours clear amber with a smallish beige head. Extremely tasty! Lots of good citrus, malt, a touch of raisin and of course hops in the dry finish. Awesome carbonation and a pretty long finish, great complexity, coupled with the fact that it isn’t so heavy as some makes this a real winner. Wish they brewed it year round.

Delicious, one of my favorite winter beers! Very hoppy, and bitter, makes you want to drink it around a camp fire. If you are a fan of some hops, give this one a try, after about 2 I tasted chocolate ha.

12 oz bottle. 2007 variety. Pours a clear (until that yeast plug in the bottom is let loose then its nice a cloudy) copper/amber color with a nice 1 finger dense cream head that holds well. This one looks like a nice ale should look, makes you want to drink it! Aroma isnt too powerful but is a mix between piney and citrusy aromatic hops and some sweet carmely malts. Taste is nice and complex. Starts off with some aromatic fresh hop taste (ostensibly from the aroma) and a little yeasyness then moves into the nice sweet carmely matly taste and finishes with bitter hops. Nice and complex for an IPA. Enough of a malt backbone to keep up with the hops but not overpower them: they are still the stars of the show. Moutfeel is good, full bodied but not heavy and with a nice strong dose of carbonation. Definately the go to beer for any hop fix among the winter seasonals. Too bad they dont make it all year round, its one of my favorite IPA’s out there.

Enjoyed from a 12oz bottle in a pub glass. This classic pours a nice copper with some red overtones. The smell gives one the sense that he is walking through a hop farm in Yakima or the Willamette valley; splendid citrusy character abounds. Hop flavors and bitterness also attack the palate up front, although "attack" may not be the best description, as the bitterness is as smooth as any I’ve tasted in beers of this ilk. Malt notes on the mid-to back of the palate add a really nice richness and fullness, ending with a dry finish. Wonderful!

This is truly a great IPA. I put this up against 60 min. IPA and Hop Devil and this one was the best IMO. They should make it year long. I’m rating this from memory, so I won’t go into details. Just try it, you love it. Awesome stuff.