Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp 2014: Yonder Bock Tropical Maibock (brewed with Cigar City Brewing in Tampa, Florida)

Brewed By: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California 
Purchased: Single 12oz CAN from the 2014 Beer Camp bought at Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2014 (PKG 05/04/14)
Style/ABV: Tropical Maibock, 7.7%

Reported IBUs: 45

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.

Yonder Bock Tropical Maibock

The Yonder Bock Tropical Maibock is a collaboration with the talented event planners at Cigar City Brewing. If you are looking to have a birthday party, cater a large event, or release a limited beer, you know who to call. My can reads: "Brewed in collaboration with Cigar City Brewing in Tampa, FL, Yonder Bock is a Latin-inspired twist on a traditional Maibock. Cigar City finds inspiration in the Cuban roots of their hometown, which is a long way from our home base in Chico, but our friends down yonder in Florida sure can brew a great beer. YOnder Bock blends a silky malt body with bright, fruity hop aromas of guava, mango and passion fruit from the use of Calypso, Azacca and experimental 366 hops as a nod to Cigar City's tropical locale."

This one pours into a hazy, dark orange body, with tons of carbonation in the form of tiny streams (courtesy of the teku). This also kicks up three fingers of big, fluffy, caramel-orange-tinted head. Head retention is good, and there's a lot of active carbonation minutes after the pour. There is good lacing as well. The body retains its deep orange color in bright light.

On the aroma: big lager spice that flirts with bread, toast, rye, and caramel sugars. Beneath that are sweet honey notes that give way to faint tropical fruits and citrus notes. I'm getting oranges, guava, pineapple, and mango.

This is incredibly enjoyable, with deep sheets of honey sweetness and bread that unravel and drop tropical fruits, honey, and rich caramel sugars. The 7.7% is completely not obvious here, but this has a boozy seduction about it. I'm getting cherries, pineapple, super sweet coconut, mango, and orange in here. There are nice honey and saffron notes, and in the back is some faint grain alcohol that is accentuated by mild hop bitterness. 

I'm a little bit at a loss here as far as how to rate this...I haven't had many Maibocks, and this one seems quite unique. This isn't an overly complex beer in general, but for a Bock there's a lot going on here. The palate depth here is great, and this is definitely a full-bodied island treat. I'm not getting any of the 7.7%, at least not in terms of alcohol heat, but some boozy seduction and grainy alcohol does show up. I'm also feeling some warming. Up front: honey and bready sweetness, with toast and Noble hop bitterness; that rolls into more saffron and honey, cherries, tropical fruits, oranges, guava, coconut, pineapple; the back end continues with sharp, quad-like fruits, and leaves some grainy alcohol and faint hop bitterness in your mouth. This could be a little bigger and rounder, otherwise it's nearly perfect.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Decent Above-Average on this beer. This is a really interesting beer...I could see myself pairing this with an upside pineapple cake, mango salsa, white fish, and certainly on a beach somewhere. This is probably the most free-spirited application of a Bock you are going to find, and I commend Cigar City for this one. I could see myself grabbing something like this in a 6-pack. 

Random Thought: Dammit, now I want to go drink on a beach. To live in the Midwest...