Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp 2014: Beer Camp Across America West Coast Double IPA

Brewed By: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California 
Purchased: Single 24oz bottle bought at Binny's in Naperville, IL; 2014 (Bottled 06/20/14)
Style/ABV: American Double I-P-A, 8.5%

Reported IBUs: ?

What is this, Beer Camp extras? 

blah blah (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.) blah blah

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 Beer Camp Across America West Coast Douple IPA isn't a movie. It's not a musical porno. But ask yourself this: shouldn't it be a musical porno? I mean seriously, what's with the name here. This Double IPA is a "liquid invitation" to invite beer drinkers to attend Beer Camp Across America. Fun fact: I picked this up at my local Binny's after Beer Camp rolled through Chicago. You can't win 'em all. But if it was a musical porno...

This one features five hop varieties! Five! "Two of which went into Sierra Nevada’s “Hop Torpedo” dry-hopping device." Woo. 

Beer Camp Across America West Coast Double IPA

This should-of-could-of been non-musical porno pours into a deeply golden-amber body, kicking up three fingers of super dense, fluffy, gold-tinged head. The carbonation in here is ample. Thanks, teku. You get your usual tiny streams of bubbles...I do like the glass. This one takes on a vibrant gold color with some orange tones in bright light. It looks the part of an IPA or Double IPA. [Also of note: the nice lacing and fantastic head retention].

The aroma here is very much reminiscent of a West Coast IPA, with pungent and dank pine, orange, resin, and super-sweet cakey malt backings. I'm also getting a hint of onion and garlic in the mix. It also smells a bit watery and grassy to be honest, veering towards the lighter side of things.

This basically tastes the part of the nose...very much your standard West Coast IPA, with nice resinous and dank pine, dank citrus, and big caramel/cakey malts. The hop spice plays off the cakey sugars and veers towards lime zest and even brown sugar. The bitterness in here is nice, but this definitely has the malt backings to keep everything in check. It's enjoyable but it's not overly memorable.

This is medium-bodied approaching full, with good carbonation to help drive things, and lots of hop bitterness and cakey-sweet malts. It's easy-going for 8.5%, but I'd say the balance is towards the sweet side. Palate depth is good, but the complexity is very much par the course. It's kind of just a West Coast IPA....I mean, it's well crafted otherwise, but yeah. Up front: hops (duh, stupid), dank pine/orange/tangerine, resin; the mids roll into more dank hops, with some cakey and caramel undertones; the back end drops the bitter, along with some spice, hinting at lemon zest, rind, and some brown sugar. It's a notch away from being an Imperial Red...it's knocking on the Lagunitas door.

Rating: Average (3.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Average on this beer. Average+. A well-crafted West Coast Imperial IPA that does nothing other than what it advertises. Food pairings here include sandwiches, pizza, spicy foods, wings, American bar food...you know...the works. Anything with some spice that isn't delicate. 

Random Thought: This prelude to the beer camp seems apropos. Too bad I found it post-Beer Camp (or maybe not).