Bottle/Tap: Bottle
I haven’t had many beers by the folks at Sierra Nevada, but I noticed this beer on a friend’s Facebook page and decided to give it a try. I made a six-pack a while back with one bottle and quickly bought the last six-pack a store had after I sampled it. I know I’m not one for IPAs, as I have said, but I’m trying to branch out and experiment here and there.
This ale had a really nice amber color in my glass and didn’t smell like a really bitter IPA either. At 7.2% I thought it was going to be kind of rough, but it turned out to be quite the opposite. I had the bottle sitting in the basement to get chilled and noticed that the slight chill helped kill off some of the bitter edge at first. As I progressed I noticed a really great flavor and kept wondering what the ‘extra’ was in this extra IPA. Whatever the ‘extra’ was, I didn’t mind.
As it turns out, this is a new addition to Sierra Nevada’s line of year-round beers. At Sierra Nevada they do a lot of seasonal brews, and a little research says that this will be offered all year instead of their usual IPA, which is a seasonal special. I have to say that it may be kind of tough to find this though: it keeps flying off the shelves because many people think it is seasonal so they buy in bulk. Give it time, and it will resurface.
Halfway through the glass I noticed that there was a light creamy taste to the beer, which made the bitter taste really smooth. It did have that classic IPA aftertaste, but it is the before-taste that really concerns me.
Cheers.
