Orgasm of the Mouth
Written: Dec 05 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Strong, extra- hopped ale
Cons: None, although some find find the taste overwhelming
The Bottom Line: Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale is a classic brew that sets your mouth on fire with the taste of hops
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| Bryan_Carey's Full Review: Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale |
Winter seasonal beers are often a treat for the senses, with many of them featuring spicy additions like cinnamon, nutmeg, and other flavors that help to get one warmed up and in the mood for the holiday season. Sierra Nevada Brewing Company has its own seasonal offering, but this beer doesn’t rely on added spices for added distinction. Instead, this beer fortifies itself with an overabundance of hops. The beer is called Celebration Ale, a winter seasonal that is offered only a few months each year.
Basic Characteristics of This Beer:
Starting with the pour, you can tell that this is no ordinary beer. The color is copper, and the head of foam starts out thick and dense, settles down a bit as you drink, and maintains a small, quarter- inch white froth all the way to the bottom of the glass. The thick foam leaves lace on the glass as it subsides.
The aroma of this beer is strong and enticing, with a nose that includes hops, grapefruit, and floral accents. But even this complex mixture of aromas doesn’t quite prepare you for the taste sensation that awaits your palate.
Pow! That first sip brings with it an explosion of hop taste! Sierra Nevada doesn’t add any spices to this beer. With such a strong presence of hops, there isn’t really any need for added spice. These hops, which include Chinook, Cascade, and Centennial hops, combine for a knock- out punch of hop taste and bitterness that lingers on the palate long after drinking. Even 30 minutes after my last sip, I could still taste those hops.
Sierra Nevada uses other quality ingredients in this beer besides the hops. This product is brewed with Two- row barley malt, caramel malt, and dextrin malt. There is some malt character, and I would describe it as a mixture of baked bread and caramel.
To keep you nice and warm, Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale has a higher level of alcohol than other beer. It weighs in at 6.8 percent alcohol by volume. It’s more caloric than other beer, too, with 210 calories per 12 oz. serving.
Food Compatibility:
Food? What food could possibly accommodate such a big, bold brew? Personally, I prefer to drink beer like this all by itself, but if I had to consume it with food, I would choose something that is equally bold, like a spicy meat dish, Indian food, Mexican, or Thai.
Final Thoughts:
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale is a taste sensation like no other. This product is brewed on a seasonal basis, and the recipe is slightly different each year. It maintains its basic taste characteristics each season, but there are slight differences from year to year that only a discerning beer drinker could distinguish.
This is a beer intended exclusively for hop fanatics. Ordinary lovers of hops need not apply. You have to be an ardent lover of this ingredient to enjoy and appreciate all that Celebration Ale has to offer.
The delicious hop flavor of this beer is unmistakable and undeniable. With each sip, you can feel your taste buds perk up, with a fizzing, almost burning sensation in the mouth. It’s like your mouth is trying to tell you something like “hey man…what did you just do?”. It’s almost like a sensual pleasure, feeling your mouth so alive and your senses so much on edge.
Even though Sierra Nevada emphasizes the hops in this brew, I’m still thankful that the brewers didn’t cheapen the beer with a weak mixture of malt. The excellent taste of malt is there, and you can detect it, if you try. But any sweet taste of malt is overwhelmed by the spicy, perfumey aroma and taste of the Chinook, Centennial, and Cascade hops.
Bold, assertive, and uncompromising, Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale is not a beer for novices or for people who can’t handle things that are a little out of the ordinary. With such a lively hop flavor, your taste buds might be overwhelmed and in need of CPR after a couple bottles of this brew.
Proceed with caution, and enjoy the holiday season with Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. It’s an extreme brew that hopheads will cherish and savor, right to the last, bitter, hop- fortified drop!
Recommended:
Yes
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