Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Brewed By: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California
Purchased: Single big ass bomber (24oz) from Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2012
Style/ABV: American Pale Ale, 5.6%

 

Tonight I'm reaching for my good old friend, nostalgia. There is no point to review Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale. I mean, this is one of those defining beers like Sam Adam's Boston Lager. Everyone has already had this beer and everyone has reviewed it. But man, I love nostalgia. So here we go anyway. 

Sierra Nevada are one of the big players in craft brewing, and one of the first craft breweries to arrive on the craft beer scene. If you check out their history page, you will see that founder Ken Grossman began his quest to build a brewery in 1976. In 1980, Ken Grossman and co-founder Paul Camusi brewed their first batch of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. According to Wikipedia, Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale is the second best selling craft beer behind Boston Lager. Sierra Nevada is the sixth largest brewing company in the United States as well, cranking out over 750,000 barrels in 2010.

It's hard to believe that Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale dates back to 1980. Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale is a historic twist on the Pale Ale style. This is an American Pale Ale, which features some nice American hop flavors as well as decent malt balance. And indeed, the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale uses Magnum (bittering) & Perle (bittering and spicy) hops for bittering, and is then finished with Cascade (pleasant, flowery, spicy, citrus, possibly grapefruit) hops. This beer also uses Two-Row Pale and Caramel malts. Clocking in at 5.6% ABV and packing 37 IBUs, this is a drinkable beer that should have solid flavors. Let's dig in.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

The beer pours with 3-fingers worth of slightly off-white, eggshell head. The head is pretty foamy and thick, and is leaving nice lacing on the glass. The body of the beer is a copper or amber color in low light. In bright light, this is a golden-amber beer that is filtered, and has moderate carbonation. It's a good looking beer. 

The aroma on this is very subtle, with touches of hops and malts coming out. The hops are pleasant, mild, spicy, and floral. There is also a bready or toasted malt quality coming out, maybe pulls towards biscuit or grain. I'm not really picking up a ton of citrus on this: a lot of earthy hop spice though. Maybe a shot of light orange, but you really have to try to pull it out.  

I'm surprised by the hop bitterness, which seems to pinch your palate a little more than 37 IBUs. You also get some very nice bread and grain notes in here. I'm pulling out biscuit, bread, grain, floral and spicy hops, earthy hops, hints of bitter grass and lemon. This is very floral and earthy, has a nice malt balance, and has a pretty nice bitter bite. 

This is smooth, well-carbonated, and a touch creamy on the tongue. This is medium-bodied, and has solid flavors across the entire depth of the palate. This also has okay flavor depth and moderate complexity. You get carbonation, hops, and malts up front; the middle hits you with some hop blast - I actually am pulling out some hints of grapefruit and orange the more I drink this - you also get some lingering malt; the back finishes with a bitter, floral and earthy hop note. The finish is a touch dry with some malts popping back up. You want to take another sip. 

Rating:  Above-Average

Score: 90%

 

A long time ago, when I was first getting into beer, I tried a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I thought the beer was sticky sweet, cloying, bitter, and gross. I had to choke down the 6-pack, and it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience. I've come a long way, baby. This beer isn't exactly mild: there is quite a bit of bittering hop bite, and some solid flavors to balance the hops. This is incredibly drinkable at 5.6% ABV, and this is probably the quintessential American "session" Ale. I know, 5.6% ABV is kind of big to session, but you could comfortably drink 3 or 4 of these in a night if you wanted to. And you should, because this is a delicious beer that would pair well with burgers, pizza, bar food, casual American dining, chicken, BBQ, and a bunch of other things. So cheers to this beer.