This was a gift from a brewer friend who went to Coachella. He reported on the wonderful array of craft beer available in the States, and bought back this beauty from California.
I had a party on the weekend so I hid it from scavengers, then forgot about it for a few weeks. One night I came home drunk and remembered it, the current issue being it was warm in the back of my pantry. I put it in the freezer, then NEARLY forgot about it again (I’m sure you all know what happens when you forget about beer in the freezer). Luckily I remembered the beer just as I was about to fall asleep, rescued it from a icy death and put it in the fridge.
Finally on a Sunday evening with a hot curry on the stove I drank it and OH MY FUCKING GOD – BOOM – it blew my mind. This is super hoppy, intense, fresh, slightly sweet but still incredibly drinkable. The closest comparison I can give for kiwi drinkers is Liberty’s C!tra – this is incredibly well balanced. With some super-hopped beers I find them a little too intense, but this one really nailed the ultimate equilibrium of mega-hop with bitter and sweet. Sierra Nevada use dry-hopping to maximise the hop flavour with this – that involves adding whole cones to the fermentation tanks.
Anyways if you like a beer that tastes like a hop-flavoured nuclear bomb just exploded in your mouth, with delicious lingering hoppy fall out – this one is for you.
Visit www.sierranevada.com for more info. They’ve been in the craft beer game since 1979, and before that their founder Ken Grossman ran a brew supply store. Reckon they know what they’re doing.
– Reviewed by the Beer-ho –
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