Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp 2014: Tater Ridge Scottish Ale (brewed with Asheville Brewers Alliance in Asheville, North Carolina)

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 06/04/14)
Style/ABV: Stottish Ale, 7.0%

Reported IBUs: 35

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 Tater Ridge Scottish Ale is a collaboration between Sierra Nevada and the Scottish folk from the Asheville Brewers Alliance. My bottle reads: "We're fortunate to call the passionate and talented folks in the Asheville Brewers Alliance our North Carolina neighbors. Tater Ridge is our nod to the area's Scottish Highland history, and we hope this ale accented by sweet potatoes will be the first of many collaborations to come."

There and Back English-Style Bitter

This one pours out a dark reddish-browh with two fingers of tan/caramel-tinted head. This is nearly opaque; you can't really see the carbonation. There is good head retention and lacing.

The aroma here is really deep, with big caramel, bready notes, spicy notes, brown sugar, and sweet fruits that start to emerge as this warms up. It doesn't smelly like your prototypical Scotch Ale, so immediately judging this by the aroma is a bit difficult to do.

The taste, however, is much more in line with what I was expecting with a Scottish Ale. There are twangy peated malts playing off big bready and caramel notes, with Twizzlers fruits. This is fruity and sweet, with some bready spice in the back. It's very elegant and nice.

This is full-bodied, but I don't get any of the 7.0%. This is all about those gentle caramel malts and that nice, fruity body. FYI: I don't get any potato in this. Palate depth is good; good complexity. Up front: bready malts, caramel sugars, Twizzlers sweetness; that rolls into deep malts, light peat, more fruity and bready notes; the back end has a twang of hops and finishes with lingerings sugars. Nice.

Rating: Above-Average (4.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this beer. Maybe even higher...hmm. I'll have to revisit this in a few days. This is easily one of my favorites from the Beer Camp 2014. This is really tightly executed, and also happens to be an interesting take on the Scottish Ale style. I'd buy this in a 6-pack in the late Fall or early Winter months to pair with football and hearty stews and desserts. This is the Autumn beer that I want...not another tired adjunct squash or pumpkin beer.

Random Thought: This is seriously some great beer. It makes up for the sort-of-boring Yvan and Chico. 

Milwaukee Brewing Sasquash

Brewed By: Milwaukee Brewing Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 6-pack bought at Binny's in IL; 2013

Style/ABV: Porter / Spice/Herb/Vegetable, 5.6% 

Reported IBUs: 12.5

The story behind tonight's beer is that I put a big dent into my Autumn beer supply. I went to the liquor store to replenish said drained supply, and spent a few minutes contemplating which 6-pack of Pumpkin/Spice beer to roll the dice on. There are too many pumpkin beers out there, and most of them come in the 6-pack format. I'm not hating, I love having options. But I'm riding the line between Fall and Winter. I ended up grabbing a 6-pack of tonight's beer, which is from the Milwaukee Brewing Company. About the Milwaukee Brewing Company:                             

The Milwaukee Brewing Company was started as a brewpub with a 15bbl brewery. Founded by Jim McCable, the brewery produced its first beer in October, 1997. Due to increased demand and popularity, the company kegged their first beer in 2007 at the 2nd Street Brewery in, a 50bbl packaging facility. For more info, check out the brewery's website.

The Sasquash deviates from the standard pumpkin beer a bit, in that it is a Porter. Punching in at 5.6% ABV and 12.5 IBUs, the beer is brewed with Tettnang hops, a Pale/Special Roast/Honey/Chocolate malt base, and features pumpkin and sweet potatoes. In fact, the beer uses an impressive 700 pounds of pumpkin and sweet potato, straight to the wort. The beer also features some cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. 

Milwaukee Brewing Sasquash

The beer pours a dark brown, almost-black color in low light, and kicks up a finger of dark tan/khaki head. The head is creamy, and departs with some nice lacing, and settles into a nice hazy, cauldron effect. Bright light betrays the beer's ruby red body, but you can see brown tones even in lower lighting. The beer is hazy and features some floating sediment (yay, bottle conditioning!), and you can see some nice carbonation. Nothing looks amiss...onto the aroma.

Whew. This has a nice, sweet, malty aroma. I'm getting a lot of toast, some roast, sweet molasses and sugars, and malty sweetness typical to a Brown Ale, Porter, or malty Bock. I'm also getting some nice pie crust, with some cereal graininess. Actually...the aroma on this beer channels the same aromas you get on the Pumking or Warlock. I'm getting pie crust, meaty pie filling, meaty sweet potato, some cinnamon and nutmeg, graham cracker, and some slight canned corn. The aroma on this beer is really solid, here's to hoping it carries over into the taste. 

This is a nice, subtle beer. You get a lot of roast, toast, and hints of coffee and dark malts. In fact, the roasted flavors have quite a bit of depth. There's hints of cinnamon and pumpkin spice in the taste, with some subtle pumpkin pie, and hints of pumpkin pie/sweet potato towards the back of the beer. For the most part, the pumpkin and spice in this beer is very subtle compared to the roast.

If you want a pumpkin beer that isn't overly assertive with the pumpkin and spice, this beer might do the trick. At 5.6%, this beer is super quaffable, with a nice medium-light to medium-full body, and good palate depth. Complexity could definitely reach a bit further, but there is nice depth with the roasted flavors. You get a blast of pumpkin spice up front, followed by coffee, roast, toast; the middle rolls into more roast, with some earth, more coffee, some pumpkin spice and cinnamon; the back end has subtle hints of sweet potato and pumpkin, and more roast. It tastes like a Porter with a hint of that Pumpkin/Sweet Potato twist.

Rating: Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Average on this. I commend this beer for the depth of the roast. And for 5.6%, this beer packs a lot of flavor and punch. It's a good Porter...just not a mind blowing Pumpkin Beer. So, you're gonna love this beer if you hate overly assertive pumpkin brews. It also is a nice dark beer twist to the somewhat cliched Pumpkin Ale style. You can pair this beer with hearty pumpkin dishes, pumpkin soup, sweet potatoes, any Autumn pie (apple, pumpkin, sweet potato, etc.), or just drink it with a burger. It's light enough at 5.6% to pair well with a wide range of foods. Good stuff from Milwaukee.

Random Thought: Deep Ellum became the subject of controversy with their "Dallas Blonde Ale." It goes down easy. The controversy is a bit convoluted, but word on the street is that Deep Ellum was participating in the drama. Not cool. Even worse is the "Apology-that-is-NOT-an-apology" issued by the brewery, basically saying they're not sorry for offending people. It's a whole lotta bullshit, but the non-apology is a classless move on the same level as douche nuggets like Daniel Tosh. When will people learn.