Sierra Nevada India Pale Ale

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

I really like this beer, it was my first......IPA. Howefver after the Double Dog, it has lost something. I do love the color and head on this one and it will always have a special place in my heart. Good amber color almost orangish. Like the hoppy bite, which lead my to try hoppier beers.

350ml bottle. Murky orange amber swirled with froth. Tangy mandarin hop aroma underpinned with sweet biscuity malt. Intense bitterness more astringent than aromatic. Some pine and mandarin cheesecake in there, but too much malt and booze and not enough hop juiciness. Quite unpleasant towards the bottom of the glass. Disappointing.

March 2006 - I wasn’t digging this at all...what a disappointment, just when I was starting to really get into the IPA style. Beer poured orangish color with next to no head and lacing (isn’t head supposed to be easy with IPA’s?). The smell and taste were like a wet dog. Not overdone on hops, I’ll say that (and that’s a positive for me), but little going on in the malt department either. I could taste some funky floral hops, and maybe a little citrus, but that’s about it. BOOOO!

Bottle. Very good IPA, has a hoppy nose, with spicy and dry flavors. Poured with a lots of body, and a huge white head, very tangy, spicy aftertaste, well balanced.

Bottle. Pours hazy orange with a short white head. The aroma is more malty than expected for an IPA with some orange hops coming through. Taste is sweetish maltyness with some bitterness at the back end. Palate is medium. They need some more dry-hopping to suite this beer to my tastes. This may be what the old British IPA’s tasted like but it doesn’t have the bold hop character of an American IPA and isn’t really what I was looking for. Its alright, nothing special.

Poured a one finger head that dissipated but left nice remnants. Nice gold color. Aroma was piney hops with some nice malty background to it. Flavor is rather malty and not extremely bitter. It has a bitter, oily finish. Quite enjoyable beer.

Bottle. Pours a cloudy gold/orange with a nice foamy head. The aroma is mostly hops with some earthy malts. The taste is mostly smooth citrus and hops. There is also a malty quality, the finish being moslty hops. Not really bitter, just smooth and good. Fairly simple and pretty good.

Poured a burnished tawny-orange body with a small off-white head. Mildly piny and fruity, but predominantly biscuity. More malty than hoppy. Not my thing, especially if you are going to call it an IPA, but not bad, either.