Great Expectations
Written: Jun 01 '00
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Excellent example of India Pale Ale
Cons: Seasonal brew
|
|
|
| jruemmele's Full Review: Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale |
I usually review a beer after having just one. Not so with the Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. It took the entire six pack over the span of one week to appreciate this fine specimen. Here I must pause and make an observation. I learned something about myself and about beer while drinking this six. Now if I could just understand women and the dental plan at work, I would be damn near omniscient.(sound of incredibly loud lightning). Sorry Lord.
My expectations altered my appreciation of this beer. The picture on the carton shows a lovely cottage with Christmas decorations, pine trees and a smoking chimney all framed by new fallen snow and poinsettias. I'm thinking Christmas Ale or a seasonal winter warmer. These beers are usually malty and sweet with some spices, you know, like an Old Fezziwig by Samuel Adams. So that is what I was expecting.
Quite to the contrary, the first sniff and sip was a brutal hop mugging. Shocked to my innermost being, I experienced confusion and disappointment and this made it difficult to appreciate the qualities of this beer. It took me until tonight and this final beer to truly appreciate the wonders of this Celebration Ale. I was looking forward to a dynamite IPA after work and I got one. I realized that my appreciation of my marriage, my job, practically everything, was colored by my expectations vs. my realizations. Enough of this.
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale has a huge hop presence. Chinook hops are used for the bittering, Centennial and Cascade hops for the finish and Cascade for the dry hopping. The nose is big citrus thanks to the Cascades and a hint of light chocolate.
This is a cloudy, copper colored beer and the head is dark tan but doesn't linger. The secret to the Celebration Ale is the malt hidden underneath all the hops. It's very sneaky and does not show its face but lurks in every facet of this beer. For example, this beer has a wonderful chewy mouthfeel that I really enjoy in an IPA. It gives it a creaminess that is often missing in hoppy beers. There is little malt sweetness, but the malt plays a supporting role and helps contain the hop barrage so it is enjoyable without being puckerish.
This is a big beer. Not a great deal of alcohol, but big bold flavor. I highly recommend this beer to all IPA lovers. It is wonderful with strong flavored food and almost the perfect compliment to a sloppy big cheeseburger.
Note to brewer. Lose the snow covered cabin and the poinsettias. Call it an IPA and save us pie in the sky types a lot of grief.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
jruemmele
|
|
Member: Jeff Ruemmele
Location: Indianapolis, IN
Reviews written: 69
Trusted by: 76 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.