Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Here's the official thread for Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, beer of the week for May 4-10 2008. Use this thread for all tastings this week and later.



Aroma is light orange citrus hops. Color is a deep gold, orange, very clear. Thin off-white head with some lace. Flavor is dominated at first by hop flavor, a little citrus and a little spicy, with some bitterness, followed by some sweetness and a rich malt background. Toasty, biscuit malt flavors. Medium body, carbonation dries out the finish. There’s plenty of reasons why this beer is a classic American pale ale.

I must be the only person that doesnt like that beer.

This was one of those beers where my first bottle I thought..."oops...this was a mistake...".

By the time I finished the bottle though, I had an immediate hankering for another.

Acquired taste? Most likely. Bu I acquired a taste pretty quickly, and like any hoppy beer, my desire for even more hops grew quickly.

SNPA was my first APA, in the true (west coast) sense of the word.

Ahhh yes. One of my favorites. A definite "must try" for any one who loves beer. It's not for everyone, but like Bier Muncher said, you acquire the taste pretty quickly.

LOVE IT!! I love SNPA.

This was also the beer my first homebrew was patterned after. Great stuff.

SNPA is kind of hit or miss sometimes though. The ones I bought last fall were great, nice and citrusy - almost like grapefruit juice, but the last couple of six packs I got were mediocre at best.

I absolutely love SNPA, and consider it the "baseline" west coast APA, to which all others can be compared. It's remarkably consistent from bottle to bottle, at least here in its home state. I find that impressive in a bottle conditioned beer.

Besides, founder is a member of my homebrew club.

My own APA recipe is quite similar...a touch hoppier, a little paler.

The first time I tried this was the first time I liked a hoppy beer, and the first time I understood that beer tastes better from a glass. A revelatory moment. Thanks to SNPA, I will always brew a West Coast Pale Ale pretty regularly.

SNPA is good stuff. Sam's club doesn't have it at $18.99 a case anymore, but I was able to snag a couple cases at Costco for $20.99 each on Friday. It's $8.99 a sixer in the grocery store.

I'm saving the box and the bottles for later use. When a case of bottles cost $15, it's tough to beat SNPA for 6 bucks more. It's like buying a case of bottles and the beer costs $0.25 per bottle.

SNPA is good. Just good. It's become popular enough that many chain restaurants carry it now. So, if they have SNPA, Sam Adams, and some BMC offerings, I go for the SNPA. Otherwise, it's Sam Adams. Mostly, I'd rather have something else.

Publix supermarkets here in GA just started carrying 12-packs for $14. Its a good beer and I like it quite a lot... drinking one right now as a matter of fact. I've grown fond of Sweetwater's 420, and side-by-side, I prefer the 420. But I am curious how much different it would taste locally instead of shipped all they way across the country...

yeah, 420 is good. I have not yet decided if SNPA is better then 420 and it may come down to the fact that 420 is semi local and SNPA is not. I've been thinking about getting a half barrel of one or the other and transferring them into 3 cornies so I can have it on tap. I think I may do SNPA, just think what a keg of that costs. the warehouse has 12 packs for 13 or 14 also.

SNPA is great; my fav in the APA category thus far. I prefer it on tap over bottled, but both are nice.

its alright. not my first choice by any stretch of the imagination, but its not one id turn my nose up at...

id probably go for a Killian's instead though

Love it.
Bought a 12pack the other day to consume and add to my bottle collection to be used later by my brews....

I can't wait to try this beer.

Crazy Dream... I had a dream last night they were selling 40 oz. bottles of SNPA and I had to get a few... (Never even had a forty)

I guess I am a little anxious for the 10g of the clone I have fermenting now.

LOL! 40s of SNPA!!!

At the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee, they were serving bombers of SNPA for like $5-$6 at the Ratdog show I caught there a couple months back.
Killer beer at that price was most welcome as at the majority venues in Chicago you're paying $5-$6 for 12oz of BMC.

A great beer, something we drink all the time out here. I've been on the brewery tour which is impressive as well.

Strangely enough, in my experience SNPA is much better out of the bottle. Every time I get it on draft there seems to be a funk of some kind to it. But bottles are always good.

Hmmmmm....I've only had SNPA on tap once...at my house and it was very tasty fwiw...

blacklab said:

Strangely enough, in my experience SNPA is much better out of the bottle. Every time I get it on draft there seems to be a funk of some kind to it. But bottles are always good.

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I've noticed the same...there is *1* tap at Staples Center that serves SNPA, hidden off to the side of a pretzel vending station, so when I go to a game I always hunt it down. It's still good, but it definitely tastes different from the bottles. Not as crisp and clean, with almost a flowery taste.

Official (commercial) Beer of Choice with Crawfish at my place.

Smurfe said:

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Oh no, you ruined the crossword puzzle!!

Damn...that looks good!

I had to stop and get some SNPA yesterday. I felt like some nut getting another Catcher in the Rye book.

I was ok with that after I popped open the first one.

Those are some fine looking Crawdads

Chris_Dog said:

I had to stop and get some SNPA yesterday. I felt like some nut getting another Catcher in the Rye book.

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The classics are always a good go to, beer or books. Actually, I think that they make a good combo.

Not to resurrect this thread fr4om the dead, but I'm new to appreciating quality beer. Igrabbed a six of SNPA a few weeks ago at Walgreens as I was out of beer. I was hugely impressed and have been on a kick for it since. I just bottled my 1st batch of beer (Irish stout) and have an American Lager in primary now. Can't wait til I get the hang of it to try making a clone of SNPA!

Later,
Brian

wbrian said:

Not to resurrect this thread fr4om the dead, but I'm new to appreciating quality beer. Igrabbed a six of SNPA a few weeks ago at Walgreens as I was out of beer. I was hugely impressed and have been on a kick for it since. I just bottled my 1st batch of beer (Irish stout) and have an American Lager in primary now. Can't wait til I get the hang of it to try making a clone of SNPA!

Later,
Brian

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SNPA is good...

but Mirror Pond is better...

LVBen said:

SNPA is good...

but Mirror Pond is better...

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I've got a all grain SNPA clone sitting in a keg (secondary, aka conditioning) that I'm chomping at the bit to drink. Did you use this recipe to do Mirror Pond? (I've never had it and will have to look for a six pack in the store.)
Thanks.

copyright1997 said:

I've got a all grain SNPA clone sitting in a keg (secondary, aka conditioning) that I'm chomping at the bit to drink. Did you use this recipe to do Mirror Pond? (I've never had it and will have to look for a six pack in the store.)
Thanks.

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Oh, I've never made it... I was just referring to the commercial products. I frequent a local bar that has it on tap, and it is f-ing amazing!

I really dislike this beer. In fact it turned me off the whole IPA scene for YEARS because it was pretty much the only game in town around here ten years ago. I try it every now and then. Still dislike it. Maybe we never get fresh snpa in Iowa. Who knows. Maybe i just hate grapefruit.

I shy away from using cascade alone as my flavor/aroma like the plague. Gimme chinook, Amarillo, simcoe, but god help cascade.

SNPA is not an IPA. Chinook is very similar to Cascade, BTW.

This is arguably my favorite beer. I whole heartedly prefer it out of the bottle. A few observations... on the draft it has lower ABV (5% vs. 5.6% in bottle) and is noticeable smoother on draft. I prefer the hop "bite" in the bottle, which also might be from some of the perceived alcohol presence?

Weizenwerks said:

SNPA is not an IPA. Chinook is very similar to Cascade, BTW.

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Ok. Substitute my previous IPA comment for "bitter brew".

I love arrogant bastard, btw. Still can't stand snpa.

EDIT: maybe its the way malt plays off the cascade???? I sure would like to pinpoint it so I can brew away from that style.

JimTheHick said:

Ok. Substitute my previous IPA comment for "bitter brew".

I love arrogant bastard, btw. Still can't stand snpa.

EDIT: maybe its the way malt plays off the cascade???? I sure would like to pinpoint it so I can brew away from that style.

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Could be the grapefruit flavor you don't like. The malt side is perfect for the masses, but some don't like the hop side. I always wanted to brew a clone but drop the IBUs a bit for my wife. It's a 37 IBU beer and if I could drop it to the mid to upper 20's, that's about perfect for her. I just haven't had time.

Try a small batch with Centennial instead of Cascade from the clones out there. Less grapefruit.

Weizenwerks said:

Could be the grapefruit flavor you don't like. The malt side is perfect for the masses, but some don't like the hop side. I always wanted to brew a clone but drop the IBUs a bit for my wife. It's a 37 IBU beer and if I could drop it to the mid to upper 20's, that's about perfect for her. I just haven't had time.

Try a small batch with Centennial instead of Cascade from the clones out there. Less grapefruit.

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Wow, only 37 IBU. I think you are right and cascade trips some grapefruit threshold for me. I do hate that fruit. Other hops described as having a Grapefruit character I enjoy- even small amounts of cascade mixed with other varieties have been good.

Magnum and Perle bittering and Cascade aroma hops is what their site says. Change out the Cascade for Chinook to cut down the grapefruit.

Funny that I hate grapefruit but can easily drink SNPA.

Think I'll just stay away from anything using significant late additions of cascade only.

Torpedo - now that is much tastier.

As for my homebrewing I've never had a Surly beer or kit that wasn't REALLY good. Cynic, Bitter, Furious. W-O-W.

Don't tell me that furious is 7oz of cascade in their 'proprietary' blend.....