Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale - Wow!

I threw a little dinner shin-dig last night and one of the guys brought over a 12 pack of the Celebration Ale. I think it's fantastic. Luckily for me, only 5 were drank last night. So I'll be savoring a few of these puppies all week.

On my palette, it seems that this is basically an American Amber with an IPA twist. I see that it is dry hopped as well. I would like to brew something close to this in an extract form. Do you think starting with a basic American Amber recipe and upping the IBUs to 65 + dry hopping would get me around this flavor of the Celebration ale?

I've seen several Celebration ale clone recipes around. Do a search, I'm sure you'd come up with something that has been already proven.

here's the AG version
http://forums.moreflavor.com/viewtopic.php?t=18917&highlight=celebration

niquejim said:

here's the AG version
http://forums.moreflavor.com/viewtopic.php?t=18917&highlight=celebration

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The grain bill for the recipe is as follows:

12# Domestic 2 Row Malt
1# English Crystal Malt 45-50L

That seems way off in terms of the color of the celebration ale.

Search for Dude's CA clone... seems to be right on.

SilkkyBrew said:

Search for Dude's CA clone... seems to be right on.

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I can't seem to find it but I did find this(pdf) that looks good to me.

Let that stuff age cold for a couple of years, and you won't believe how good it gets.


TL

TexLaw said:

Let that stuff age cold for a couple of years, and you won't believe how good it gets.


TL

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Couple of years! You have the patience of a Jedi Master my friend.

TexLaw said:

Let that stuff age cold for a couple of years, and you won't believe how good it gets.


TL

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I am starting a new 'tradition' this year of setting aside a 6-pack of the Celebration Ale and doing upward/downward tastings in future years. Not sure how well a 6.8% beer, capped with a normal cap, will hold up to 3-5 years of aging, but I'm sure at least the first year or two would work just fine... Any thoughts on aging this for 3+ years? Should I wax top them or something if I plan to store that long?

BNVince said:

I can't seem to find it but I did find this(pdf) that looks good to me.

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Here's is Dude's clone recipe post:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=4788

You can see a side-by-side (to at least confirm he nailed the color) on page 3 - he also confirms that its pretty darn close to the real thing taste-wise.

I bought a 12 of Celebration Ale last year at X-mas time. It was totally undrinkable. Vile, bitter, cat pizz smelling. Nothing like the previous years batch. I gave it to my daughter who loves hop monster beers and she asked me if I was trying to poisen her. She gave the rest of the 12 pak to the homeless dudes that hang by her apartment. When she drove by them the next day they yelled at her and flipped her off.
AP

SilkkyBrew said:

Here's is Dude's clone recipe post:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=4788

You can see a side-by-side (to at least confirm he nailed the color) on page 3 - he also confirms that its pretty darn close to the real thing taste-wise.

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Thanks a lot.

APendejo said:

I bought a 12 of Celebration Ale last year at X-mas time. It was totally undrinkable. Vile, bitter, cat pizz smelling. Nothing like the previous years batch. I gave it to my daughter who loves hop monster beers and she asked me if I was trying to poisen her. She gave the rest of the 12 pak to the homeless dudes that hang by her apartment. When she drove by them the next day they yelled at her and flipped her off.
AP

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Should have sent it back or a complaint to SN. May have scored some free, good booze...

I've never had a SN that tasted anything like what you describe, but they aren't immune to the occassional bad batch or beer being mishandled after it left their premises (by distributors, etc) I'm sure...

TexLaw said:

Let that stuff age cold for a couple of years, and you won't believe how good it gets.


TL

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That is odd. I thought you should try to drink IPAs and definetly IIPAs as fresh as possible. The hop flavor and aromy mellows and/or detriorates over time. This is one of the prime reason Vinnie does not bottle Pliney.

Originally Posted by niquejim
here's the AG version
http://forums.moreflavor.com/viewtop...ht=celebration

Quote from BNVince:
"The grain bill for the recipe is as follows:

12# Domestic 2 Row Malt
1# English Crystal Malt 45-50L

That seems way off in terms of the color of the celebration ale."

The color may be off but the flavor is dead on.
Do what Denny C says in the post and add a little Roast ( or sinamar) to get the color right. I care more about taste than color.

Ryan_PA said:

That is odd. I thought you should try to drink IPAs and definetly IIPAs as fresh as possible. The hop flavor and aromy mellows and/or detriorates over time. This is one of the prime reason Vinnie does not bottle Pliney.

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You'll definitely get more "in your face" hops aroma, etc. if you drink IPAs fresh, but there is no law that they must be drank fresh... heck, by design they were brewed to make it from Britain to India, correct? Took quite a while back then...

My bottle of +1 year old 120 Min IPA from Dogfish that I am cellaring says, "Age up to a decade" on the label... (I understand Celebration at 7% is nowhere near DFH 120 at 20%, but you get the point)

BNVince said:

Couple of years! You have the patience of a Jedi Master my friend.

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LOL. No, just a lot of beer around the house.


TL

Ryan_PA said:

That is odd. I thought you should try to drink IPAs and definetly IIPAs as fresh as possible. The hop flavor and aromy mellows and/or detriorates over time. This is one of the prime reason Vinnie does not bottle Pliney.

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No doubt that Celebration is great fresh!

However, like SillkyBrew mentioned, there are no rules about drinking beer. I opened at 2005 Celebration the other night, and it was quite nice. Yes, the hop aroma had all but gone, but the flavor was there. It had transformed a bit and melded very nicely with the malt flavors, which had matured well on their own. The result was something like a mature, less potent, drier barleywine. Whatever oxidation there was compimented the beer in that way. Keep in mind, though, that this beer had been kept cold and dark for all this time.

As far as how a 3-4 year old one will be, I still have three more 2005s, so I can tell you in a year or two.

I also still have a single bottle of 2000 and 2001 Celebration in the cooler. I'm trying to decide when I'll pop those.


TL

Sounds good enough to me. I would be interested to see what the flavor becomes now, but I doubt I would have one last that long in my fridge. I should have the wife hide a sixer in her parents spare fridge for me...

SilkkyBrew said:

I am starting a new 'tradition' this year of setting aside a 6-pack of the Celebration Ale and doing upward/downward tastings in future years. Not sure how well a 6.8% beer, capped with a normal cap, will hold up to 3-5 years of aging, but I'm sure at least the first year or two would work just fine... Any thoughts on aging this for 3+ years? Should I wax top them or something if I plan to store that long?

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Wax topping them wouldn't hurt. A tip for using wax: put the wax in a clean tin can and set the tin can in your pot of water on the stove (making a double boiler). When you are done you can simply take the tin can out and let the extra wax harden. You can reuse the wax later and do not need to worry about cleaning out any wax covered pots/pans.

TexLaw said:

Let that stuff age cold for a couple of years, and you won't believe how good it gets.


TL

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Every year I buy a case of Sierra Nevada's Big Foot Barley Wine. I let the case sit for a year, but when I cellar the case, I move the prior Season's case over and I start drinking it. Time does it wonders as I imagine it would do the same for the celebration. Personally, I think that this years is a HOP MONSTER. I think it will be a great beer in about 16 months. But hey, that's just my palate.

I do the same with Bigfoot, although I try to keep a couple or few bottles for longer. It does need to smooth out, but I don't find much improvement in Bigfoot after a couple years.


TL

Wow... this stuff is BITTER this year...but still smooth. Last year it was really harsh.

I'm enjoying it again!!!!

To the OP--this is straight up IPA, don't let anyone fool ya.

BTW, that recipe I did was pretty awesome. It doesn't get any more simple than that.

Dude said:

Wow... this stuff is BITTER this year...but still smooth. Last year it was really harsh.

I'm enjoying it again!!!!

To the OP--this is straight up IPA, don't let anyone fool ya.

BTW, that recipe I did was pretty awesome. It doesn't get any more simple than that.

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Thanks man. I may try it out.

I'm not detecting a lot of difference between the celebration ale and the general SN IPA. It's just cascade hopped ale. I'll go out and buy Anchor's Christmas ale; it's usually more traditionally spiced.

My own Holiday ale with cinnamon, nutmeg and ground ginger is fantastic.

Don't get me wrong, I literally have SN Celbration Ale in front of me in a pint galss as I type. It's very good, really digging it, but it ain't much more "celebratory" than their IPA.

TexLaw said:

Let that stuff age cold for a couple of years, and you won't believe how good it gets.


TL

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I love this kind of beer and will put it away for a while - along with a few others.