Sierra Nevada India Pale Ale

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

Bottle: Lots of head, orange, light color. Lots of hops in the aroma, with notes of cream and molasses. In the mouth... surprise! It’s hoppy! Man, these guys at Sierra Nevada, never know what they are going to do... Seriously, though I felt like this had more complexity than most of their offerings. At the entry, I noted some cream, which lasted throughout. Then the beer seemed to have a buttery-sweetness, when the hops hit, spicy with nice citrus and pine notes. Full body, good beer.

Bottle. Dark amber/copper with a moderate frothy off-white head. Islets of lacing. Aroma of floral and orangey hops atop light caramely malts. Caramel and toffee malt foundation laced with zesty citrus hops. Sprucey, though not overly resiny hop finish, with a lingering mild hoppy aftertaste. Solid, firm and well rounded malt-hop structure. Medium to full bodied with mild carbonation. A very good IPA, all the more impressive considering the mass production and distribution.

A good IPA from one of my favorite brewers. Their pale ale is my #1 beer so I was expecting a little more from this. The aroma was weak. The pour was a beautiful burnt orange with a little one finger head. The taste was nice and hoppy but with little malt in there. Not as good as their (in my eyes) classic PA but good nonetheless.

2007 12 ozer. Handsome looking ale.Clear bright copper, attractive carbonation and a small tight creme coloured head. mmm this has a more malt based aroma than I had expected from Sierra Nevada. Hops are there but beneath the malt. Ah nicelly balanced taste with rich maltiness dominating the first half of the sip, semi-sweet and finished off with some low profile ( for the West Coast) hops. Good. Nice on the palate, the beer is quite thick but yet goes down smooth, great bitter aftertaste lasts for a while. Overall a surprise a more balanced IPA than I had become accustomed too. Almost like Sam Smiths India Ale, this could be considered an ESB..or just a bloody hoppy bitter.

Very good beer. i don’t know WTF India has to do with it but it is good none the less. One of the better I’ve had from Sierra Nevada. I dont know how to discribe all the malty, hoppy, stuff. All i know is this one is good. Nice strong flavor and easily drunk, or drank. Whichever is correct.

Pours a golden brown with small head. Aroma is a little off, and reminds me of a fungi or something. Light citrus hints. The flavor echoes the nose with a bit of astringency. I don’t know if this is how an English IPA is supposed to taste, but a dissapointment for sure.

Doggy semi-skunky aroma on a nice copper colored beer with a speckled white head. Looks like an IPA, but doesn’t smell like one... at least not a good one, as there is no detectable hop in the aroma. (However) Hoppy bitterness nails the back of the tongue, accompanied by a crackery breaady flavor and a nice apricot aftertaste. Again, not much like an IPA, but decent taste nonetheless. $2/12oz

Pretty tasty beer, but...an IPA? Really? My first thought was that they accidentally mislabeled it. SN Pale Ale is much hoppier, but this does have a nice velvety texture. Tasty beer, but does not have the flavor intensity of a good IPA.