Sierra Nevada India Pale Ale

IPA 2006 12oz: Pours an off coloured caramel like clear gold colour. Aroma is hoppy and has a somewhat off-putting hardwater smell funk to it. Foamy head and lacey tail. Taste is straight hops and filtered grass. Kinda offset for an IPA geared brew. Some grapefruit bitterness but really lacking any direct punch. It continues on down and the bitterness lingers well into the night. Astringent pine and hardwater is somewhat present. Overall it’s decent, but lacks charachter for an IPA. That really hurts it.

It finally happened. I’ve been waiting to get my hands on this. The odor is crunchy hops. A biting treat. As I pour I notice it is it a totally mass produced ultra filtered darkish amber hue. Big head (todd and the Monsters, best band ever). Taste: oh no! A dissappointment. very pungent hops, but not good hops. If that makes sense. Its like they tried to hard to make this an "in you face" hops beer and missed the boat. There’s not enough malt to counter the hops, so its just bad hop taste. Palate is great though. I expected this coming from a huge beer factory in Chico. Really evaporates off the tounge.

Pours with a frothy, one-finger thick, light tan colored head that has a bit of staying power. The beer is quite clear and a reddish-tinged full copper color. The aroma has a nice, though subtle, lightly toasted malt note to it and a hint of crystal malt like caramel in the finish. Of course the aroma is quite hoppy with notes of pine, oranges. The aroma is somewhat subtle, and not all that typically aromatic, for a modern American IPA, but it is quite nice and exactly what I expect from Sierra Nevada.

This beer has a solid, almost disproportionate bitterness up front as soon as this beer hits my tongue. The bitterness continues through to the finish where it lingers on for some time. I think that the spicy fried rice that I just had is affecting my perception of the bitterness. There is a hint of citrus character, but just a touch, mostly there is an almost minty-like herbal note and some pine-like flavors as well. At other times this beer has been much more aromatic & hop flavorful that it is right now, though this is the first time I have had this out of the bottle and I wonder if that is effecting things. All in all this is pretty enjoyable, and it is certainly aggressively hopped.

Bottle . Pours amber. Faint aroma of citrus hops. Basically, take SNPA and remove some of the caramel notes and this is what you get. A rather boring beer from Sierra.

Decent enough IPA, I prefer the pale to this, but it’s not bad. Nice carmel complex, with a hoppy, not too bitter aftertaste.

citrusy not too hoppy, very subtle drink by this wonderful brewery, nice taste not too overwhelming. good.

Amber color medium sized white head. Faint hop aroma, and a dry hop flavor. Very dry and not very rich more grassy than anything only a little citrus or floral notes from the hops. Regular SNPA is better.

Somehow, the flavor is slightly cheesy, but mostly hoppy. Looks appetizing with the crysatl clear orange body. The flavor is highly hopped, with a hint of minerals and smokiness. Overall, a decent IPA - easily drinkable, but not the most robust.