Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp 2014: Electric Ray India Pale Lager (brewed with Ballast Point Brewing Company in San Diego, California)

Brewed By: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California 
Purchased: Single 12oz bottle from the 2014 Beer Camp bought at Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2014 (PKG 06/03/14)
Style/ABV: India Pale Lager, 8.5%

Reported IBUs: 70

What is Beer Camp? It is Sierra Nevada's celebration of craft beer and the numerous breweries across America that make that craft beer. For 2014, Sierra Nevada collaborated with 12 different breweries to make 12 different beers. They also have a Beer Camp Across America Beer Festival, which will stop at seven different cities and feature many different breweries and beers.

About Sierra Nevada:

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. For more info, check out their website.

The Electric Ray India Pale Lager is a beer brewed with the fisherman guys at Ballast Point Brewing. My bottle reads: "As ever, San Diego's Ballast Point looked to the sea for inspiration. A play on the fish's scientific name - Torpedo Californica - Electric Ray pays homage to our Hop Torpedo, the source of much of this beer's big flavor. Its massive grapefruit and floral notes deliver a high-voltage hit of hop flavor."

Electric Ray India Pale Lager

For a lager, this pours out with some haze, into a super dark-tinged, amber-orange body. This has rich bronze and gold tones, and kicks up two to three fingers of super dense, hop-fueled, caramel-tinted head. Moderate carbonation. Good head retention with lacing that paints that wagon.

This smells like an amped up version of the Torpedo Pilsner. Big sweet hops permeate the aroma, with sugars, orange, orange candies, and cakey Pilsner malts. The aroma reminds me of Stone's RuinTen an Dogfish Head's 90 Minute IPA. Grass, pine, guava, apricot, dank, resin, sweet tobacco, and big bold caramel sugars all pop on the aroma. You would never guess this is a lager. 

The taste features big cakey malts and dank hops. I'm getting cake-tobacco, and again I'm reminded of the RuinTen and the 90 Minute IPA. Some alcohol is definitely present in the taste, with grassy malts towards the back, deep caramel sugars everywhere, and some sweet Pilsner malts in the mix. The clean lager yeast is blunted by the hops and sugars.

This is medium to lightly full-bodied. Big, with booze and nice bitterness. You do get some of the 8.5%. Palate depth is amazing, complexity is okay. Up front: cakey malts and citrus hops; that rolls into dank hops, tobacco, caramel sugars, sweet resin; the beer finishes with grassy hops, cakey malts, sweet Pils malts, bitterness, biscuit dryness. 

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Above-Average on this. This tastes a lot like the RuinTen or the DFH 90 Minute. The big hops completely blunt the lager yeast, and that's all good. You can pair this bold and overly sweet beer with spicy, dry chicken wings, dry spicy foods, and maybe a curry dish or something with dry heat. This is a fun beer...but they effectively brewed an American Barleywine Lite using lager yeast. 

Random Thought: Ballast Point...can't go wrong with that.