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Late Night with a Frosty Brew: Sierra Nevada Celebration 2011

Well, well, well. It’s been a long time since we’ve sat down with a frosty brew on a late night. I’ve been been sampling a few different beers in recent weeks, but the Sierra Nevada Celebration is the first winter brew I’ve come across this season that’s worthy of sharing notes.

This beer works directly out of the bottle or in a nice glass. Should you decide to go the classy route, it pours a rich, warm, amber color and features a really thick, effervescent head. There is obvious lacing, which just makes you feel good. The lacing sticks around quite a bit, too, indicating Sierra Nevada is using a fresh, healthy batch of hops. Each year, they take the earliest hops from their harvesting season and use them in their Celebration brew, which is also dubbed their “Fresh Hop Ale,” so this is no coincidence!

Beyond the frothy head and other positives of this beer’s appearance is a noticeable and enticing aroma. There are sharp notes of both citrus (grapefruit?) and pine (Douglas fir?) that are very, very inviting.

When you finally get to the drinking, it just gets better and better! Sierra Nevada rarely does poorly, so it’s to be expected that one of their annual paramount brews is so good. This hits all of the expected IPA notes (hoppy, palette-freshening), but brings a malty balance that you won’t find in prototypical IPAs. The nature of this beer allows it to slide comfortably into the realm of winter seasonals it occupies.

I highly recommend it and believe it has all of the necessary points to make your holidays just perfect.

Quick Hits:

  • Thick, beautiful head with substantial lacing. It’s like a snowstorm on the side of your glass
  • Aromatic citrus and pine scents bursting to get to your nose
  • Rich, balanced flavor with a bit of a hop bite and a spicy finish
  • Overall an incredible and versatile brew that’s good for taking a six pack to parties or stock-piling for yourself in your beer fridge

Enjoy and have the happiest of holidays!

Posted in Beer, Late Night | Leave a comment

Best Way to Have Beer at the Office?

Four engineers that work at Yelp, which is a very popular review website you’ve probably heard of, have put together an iPad, RFID reader, and their office kegerator to make a pretty interesting office beer tap.

Read about how they make beer fun at Yelp, or watch their video, here:

What would you do with the ability to check the stats and status of your nearest keg at the office. I feel like many of us here at Yet Another Beer Show would end up in a dangerous competition to top the leaderboard!

 

Posted in General | Leave a comment

Donate to Relief Efforts in Japan

Hi, folks. As you are undoubtedly aware, the entire nation of Japan is in the throes of dealing with the tragedy stemming from the massive earthquake and tsunami. You’ve likely seen video footage of the destruction and devastation.

Click here to make a donation to Japanese Relief Efforts in an amount of your choosing
OR
Go to the Red Cross Site directly and make a donation
OR
Take a moment to text “REDCROSS” to 90999 on your cell phone and have $10 donated to Japanese relief efforts from your bill

We task ourselves with having a good time and reviewing beer on a regular basis. While that’s still our motus operandi, there’s a time and a place to get a bit serious. We’ve put together two reviews of traditional Japanese beers, and were joined by Kasey’s brother Nick, who lives in Tokyo, and had the good fortune to be visiting family and friends in America when the earthquake and its subsequent chaos struck.

There’s a lot to learn about Japanese beer culture, and ways in which you can easily donate to Japanese relief efforts. Have a look at our first review of the pair, which covers Asahi Super Dry, one of the most commonly-known Japanese macrobrews.

The second in our Japanese beer series is coming soon.

Posted in Events | Leave a comment

World Cafe Live Beer Fest – 2.26.11

Hey everyone,

I recently had the opportunity to check out World Café Live’s 7th Annual Beer Festival – Beats, Brews, and BBQ.  It was just a few weekends ago and if you had the chance to go, I am positive you had a great time just as I did.  Two very good friends, Tony and Gemma, and I meandered through the maze of beer vendors and had a blast.  I really wanted to share all the beers that I had (well…to be fair…the ones I remember trying and took notes on :) ) and thought it would have been really hard to do via video so it seemed quite apt to be my first blogging.  What I’ll try to do is write just a little bit about each thing I had, be as succinct as possible to spare you from reading a thesis, and break it up into a few postings (this will be part 1 of 3).

Oskar Blues Brewery:

Dale’s Pale Ale:  I really liked this one.  Colin and I have had a few Oskar Blues’ beers before and I was glad they were represented here.  Very nice hoppy beer with a sweet finish.  I thought there was a nice citrus flavoring/aroma (very grapefruity if I recall…) and seemed like a very drinkable beer.  It wasn’t the best thing I’ve had in years, but I would definitely have another one!

Old Chub Scotch Ale:  Interesting selection.  I found myself liking it in some respects and in others thinking it was missing something.  Very smooth and very much what you’d want/expect from a scotch ale in the way of strong flavors and minimal carbonation.  It’s not the easiest type of beer to drink and I like scotch anyhow.  But, that being said, if you’re going to try a scotch ale for the firs time, this should get some thought for sure.

We’ve reviewed Oskar Blues’ Gubna, Mama’s Little Yella Pils, and Gordon from Oskar Blues. Check them out!

Great Lakes Brew Company:

Burning River Pale Ale:  I thought this beer was ok.  There was some nice malts going on and a really interesting pine floral aroma when swirled.  I wasn’t in love with the finish though – it left a really strong residual hop taste in my mouth.  I’ve had some really good brews from them so I’m not turned off at all but this one won’t likely be one that I do again.

Avery Brewing Company:

White Rascal Witbier: This beer ended up not being one that stood out in my mind.  When it was poured for me, it had nearly no head (and what head it did have disappeared within seconds).  It had a nice citrus aroma with a super subtle hint of some spices.  I felt the malts were pretty low key for this type of brew and the yeast kinda dominated for me.  Wasn’t the worst thing I’ve tasted ever but I wasn’t really impressed with this (especially since it was this company’s witbier at a Belgium beer fest!).

We’ve previously reviewed the Maharaja from Avery Brewing.

Weyerbacher Brewing Company

Heresy Russian Imperial Stout:  This pitch black brew certainly left a lasting impression with me.  There were some great oak smells and had an awesome finish which reminded me of coffee and chocolate.  I struck up a conversation with the WBC rep and he said that a huge key for this beer was to have it either cask-conditioned or on tap (though the bottle can be good, the true flavors don’t come out the same).  So, if you’re lucky enough to see this on tap someplace, check it out.  I thought it had great taste front to back and certainly would be a beer I’ll recommend to friends.

Stone Brewing Company

Arrogant Bastard:  Awesome.  Ok, next beer…just kidding.  But seriously…a great beer.  A really nice looking deep red/red-brown look which had a super frothy pour.  A very aromatic brew with lots of hops, fruity undertones, and a hint of alcohols.  It was a very smooth drink but still maintained a complex body of flavors.  I will say, however, that if you’re expecting a beer you can slam and be thrilled this may not be your beer.  It really should be one of those triple s beers (swirled, sniffed, sipped) in order to really get out of the bottle what is possible.

Twin Lakes Brewing Company

Greenville Pale Ale:  A very young local brewery with an interesting take on their brews.  I spent about 20 minutes talking with the owner and had a really interesting conversation (I mention this here rather than with other brewers because I had such a unique answer…).  He told me that the goal of [his] beer was to be slammable – there’re too many beers out there you have to sip and such while he wants his beer to be one you select at t he end of a long day’s work and you just slam it and want another one. How could you not be intrigued with an answer like that?

Ok, on to the beer (my review was based on the second beer because he insisted I slam the first one).  Had a nice copper color upon pour and had a nice little hop smell.  Nothing super remarkable upon tasting – it was a tasty beer but it wasn’t anything that I can say which offered a unique signature or reason to try it.  In a sense it was very average in presentation which I suppose is good because that’s what he said he wanted.  Was a good beer and I can say that they certainly met their goal – I’d gladly slam a GPA or two after work any time.

Tweeds Tavern Stout:  More of the same methodology – meant to be a highly drinkable beer that just plain tastes good.  A super black pour (not quite as deep and dark as the Heresy mentioned before, but still plenty black) with some really nice roasted malts to smell.  It has a strong coffee-esque flavor but it certainly wasn’t over powering.  It certainly had a lingering taste in my mouth which in some ways made me want to have another sip.  Once again, I thought this was a pretty mundane stout in that it hits all the notes you’d expect, however there is nothing insane here.  Yet, I found myself really liking the beer.  Sometimes it’s nice to just have a beer you like without having to dissect all the elements.

The Half and Half:  This was a personal creation from the owner which was half a glass of Greenville Pale Ale and Tweeds Tavern Stout.  This is the drink of the owner after he has a long day at work and I can see why.  It was really tasty and really hit the highs for each drink.  The GPA made the TTS much more crisp on the palette while the TTS made the GPA much more savory and robust in taste.  So, while you won’t find this offered in a bottle, if you’re at a local watering hole and they have both on tap, give it a try for sure!

Bear Republic Brewing Company

Hop Rod Rye:  Really interesting beer here.  Had a nice dark ale color to it which was just slightly opaque.  There are super subtle rye tastes (as the beer kinda warms up a tad) which compliment the bitter hops and clean, crisp citrus tones.  Full bodied beer with a reasonable amount of carbonation which I think was a perfect selection – had it been too much or too little carbonation it would have really taken away from the balance of the beer.  Keep in mind that this beer is a little higher on the ABV (around 8% I believe) and can make it a challenge to drink.  This would be a great first or second beer rather than one you’d have at the end of the night – which is fine because it’s really tasty and a very enjoyable beer.

Posted in On Location, Taste Test | Leave a comment

The launch of Cherry Voodoo

Tuesday night at Churchkey, the new San Francisco brewery Cherry Voodoo officially launched. With three beers, they welcomed the public to try the brews officially for the umpteenth time this SF Beer Week.

The group of four entrepreneurs have been growing their product into a what they hope is a successful business. For the past two years, they have spent their time building a brand, image, and most importantly a strong selection of distinct beers.

The question is how did they do that night? I arrived at Churchkey at 30 minutes after the 9pm start time for the event. They were already sold out of two of their brews and all was that was left was their Tripel, only because they had brought more kegs. They’ve been in high demand supplying for SF Beer Week.

Continue reading →

Posted in On Location, Press | Leave a comment