Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Across America West Coast Double IPA. American DIPA 8.5% ABV.
Thought I was done with Beer Camp eh? Well I forgot to post about this DIPA so you get one last post! This beer was brewed as an intro to the Beer Camp 12 pack, but was not a collaboration. I didn't find it until about halfway through my 12 pack, so I planned on posting earlier. Without further ado here is your final beer camp post (until next year).
Served from a 24 oz bottle and poured into a pint glass. Pours a copper color with a three finger white foam head. Smells are of orange and grapefruit with a blast of hops. Carbonation is high with a medium body. Taste is of citrus and bready malt. Aftertaste is mostly grapefruit.
The critics did not care much for this DIPA, but I was a huge fan. If this were in the beer camp pack it would have scored right at the top for me.
92/100
$5.50/bottle
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Great Divide Oatmeal Yeti Imperial Stout. Denver, Colorado. 9.5% ABV.
Served chilled from a 22 oz bomber and poured into a snifter. Pours a pitch black color with a one finger tan foam head. Smells are of oatmeal, chocolate and coffee. Carbonation is moderate to light with a full body. Taste is like the smell. Oatmeal and roasted malts lead the way, with hints of chocolate and coffee. Aftertaste is sweet and has hints of the oatmeal. This is by far, the best oatmeal stout I have ever had. I have always enjoyed Sam Smith's Oatmeal Stout, and also Rogue's Shakespeare Oatmeal. Heartland Brewery in NYC also has a phenomenal oatmeal beer that can only be found at their restaurants. If you can find this beer, definitely purchase it. Totally worth it! 96/100 $13.99/bomber Boulevard Brewing Double Wide IPA. Kansas City, MO. American DIPA 8.5% ABV. Served chilled from a 750 mL bomber and poured into a pint glass. Pours a dark amber color with an orange tint and a thick white frothy head. Smells are of caramel, citrus and malt. Carbonation is moderate with a medium to full body. Taste is exactly how it smells, though the beer is heavier than I expected it to be. Aftertaste is a combination of caramel, hops and bitterness with a slight citrus zest. Nothing terribly special or original here. Bought because I loved the bottle and had never tried Boulevard. I hear their sours are amazing so I'll try them again. 86/100 $10/750 mL bottle Today I figured I would debut a new segment on my website: a top 5 list. Over the past several months I have been writing about all sorts of beer types, but have consistently explained that my favorite type is the Double IPA (DIPA). Many ask what the difference between a regular IPA, DIPA and a triple IPA are. The short answer is that there isn't much of a definition. It appears that when IPAs reach a 7.5% or 8% level, people begin calling them DIPAs. When they reach above 10%, they all of a sudden become Triple IPAs. Granted some breweries do different things, but this is typically how I define them. Today I want to do a top 5 of my current favorite Double IPAs, counting backwards. I have reviewed all five of them already (since I buy them often!). I would love to hear thoughts. Honorable Mention: Green Flash West Coast IPA, Firestone Walker Double Jack, Sixpoint Hi-Res, Bell's Hopslam, Great Divide Hercules DIPA 5. Bear Republic Apex Special IPA. I had this for the first time in a bottle in the beginning of June, and have only seen it a few times in stores. I had the opportunity to try it on tap on June 30th, and find it incredibly crisp, refreshing and drinkable. The flavors are citrusy, but extremely hoppy. The head really stood out to me, as it was almost creamy, and maintained its consistency the whole way down the glass. 4. Stone RuinTen This is the tenth anniversary beer for Stone's Ruination IPA, an incredibly bitter and hoppy DIPA. It was first put out in 2012, and was so popular that they made it again in 2014. I have had the opportunity to have it in a bottle twice, and on tap twice since it came out a little over a month ago. Bravo Stone! 3. Stone Enjoy By IPA This beer is a favorite of mine, and I buy it every time it is released (though I have not yet found the August edition in NYC!) Stone brews this DIPA fresh, and the date on the bottle is the date when one should consume this beer by. It is unfiltered and tastes incredibly hoppy, bitter, citrusy and is the definition of fresh. Buy it whenever you find it (as long as it is before the date!) 2. Wormtown Hopulence The number 2 and 1 slot have caused my great anxiety. For a time when I first discovered Hopulence, I proclaimed it the best beer I have ever had. Each time I drink the number 1, however, it causes me to switch back. Hopulence is a phenomenal beer and one that I will continue to buy whenever I have the opportunity. It is a beautiful blend of citrus, floral and earthy hops with an incredibly bitterness that somehow converts into a crisp and refreshing beer. Everybody I have given this to has enjoyed it, and is shocked that they have never heard of it or seen it. Surprisingly, it only scores a 92 on Beer Advocate, which is shocking to me. It is on par with the number one on this list, which should be no surprise to anyone. 1. Heady Topper Alesmith Yulesmith Summer. American Double IPA (DIPA). San Diego, CA 8.5% ABV. Served from a 22 oz bomber and poured into a pint glass. Pours a dark golden to light copper color with a 2 finger white foam head. Smells are very citrusy and piney. Immediately I knew I was going to like this DIPA before I even took a sip. Carbonation is moderate with a medium body. Taste is of grapefruit, citrus peel and lots of hops. Aftertaste is bitter, citrusy and lingering. Overall a very good DIPA, and another great beer from Alesmith. I was hesitant to pick up the Yulesmith (this is their season brand name) Holiday this winter, but after this will definitely pick it up. I almost didn't buy this because I thought it was leftover from the winter (bottle looks exactly the same) but I'm glad I did. 93/100 I have had many people ask me how I come up with my ratings. Even since I started the blog I have changed around my system. The short answer is: it's somewhat arbitrary, it is based upon recent beers I've had of the same style, and reflects my personal tastes and not any others. When I first started sampling beers, I rated things 1-5, with whole numbers only. This was because I kept an excel spreadsheet of every beer I've ever had (and still do-let me know if you'd like it emailed to you) and the whole numbers allow for easier tracking. When I started the blog, I figured I would allow for fractional numbers in the 1-5 system. This matches what many ratings sites do. They will allow you to rate appearance, aroma, mouthfeel, taste and overall. Each of these are on a scale of 1-5. I like this scale, but then people would say to me "wow-you have this a 4/5 but beer advocate gave it a 98. Was it not good?" This encouraged me to change my system to more reflect Beer Advocate's. Their rating system tends to more reflect a letter grade scale, with the majority of beers falling in the 70-100 range. I have rarely seen anything below a 50. With exceptional beers, I put all of those in the "A" category. From 90-100, there is not much room to distinguish one exceptional beer from another. In my opinion, anything 80 and above is a great beer, though I still buy 70 and above beers. I look at 75 being an "average" rating. So how do I actually pick the final number? It really is somewhat arbitrary. I figure out which bucket it fits into, and then think about the last few beers of a similar style and overall that I have rated. If it is better, I try to make the number reflect that. If it is indistinguishable or worse, then the number will reflect that. Additionally, people have wondered why so many beers are 95 and above. The answer is that I tend to buy many highly acclaimed and regarded beers. These often warrant world class status. If I sampled things like Bud Light, Corona or PBR, I'm sure there would be some 60s thrown into the mix. In my first few months I have been trying different and exciting beers, though once I begin exhausting the local store I will move on to more common ones! One final point is that just because something scores a 95 last month, something I may rate a 94 might be better in my book. My tastes evolve over time, though it is way too much time and energy to be constantly reevaluating them. For example, in college I would have rated Boston Lager a 100 since it was vastly different than Natural Light or Pabst. However, I look back on that as a beer in the mid 80s. The same happens the first few times a try a new style or hard to find brand. (I think Yuengling before it came to Boston or NY-I look at that as an average beer now). Tastes certainly do change, and my ratings must evolve with it. It will be interesting next year when some of the seasonals I have rated come out and I can see the differences in my ratings. Hope this clears some things up. I would love, as always to hear comments about your rating scale. Cheers! Scott Harviestoun Ola Dubh 12. Alva Industrial Estate. Clackmannashire, Scotland, United Kingdom. Old Ale 8% ABV. Served semi-chilled from a 12 oz bottle and poured into a snifter. Pours a dark black with no head. Smells of caramel, coffee and an intense smokiness. Carbonation is light with a medium to full body. Taste is of coffee, raisins, figs and other interesting flavors. The aftertaste is incredibly smokey, oaky and peppery. To be honest, it is an indistinguishable aftertaste to that of Oberto or Jack Links beef jerky. Not at all what I was expecting but I grew to enjoy it. A few weeks before I sampled the Ola Dubh 16 (which knocked this out of the water) but this was still a good beer. I love their Old Engine Oil, and this makes 3/3 for this brewery for me now! 87/100 Today I have the chance to write my final reflections on the Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Across America 12 pack. As a refresher, Sierra Nevada collaborated with 12 different breweries across the country to create some new, one-time only brews. It would allow people in different parts of America try beers from breweries that typically only distribute on a local level. For example, East-Coasters can rarely get Russian River beers, and those outside of the Midwest cannot get 3 Floyds beers. Sierra Nevada Beer Camp 12: Myron's Walk collaboration with Allagash. Belgian style pale ale brewed with coriander. 5.3% ABV. I figured that I started the beer camp two weeks ago in California with Russian River, so I would end in Maine with Allagash. A fun cross country tour that I will have plenty to discuss about shortly. But first, the final review. Served chilled from a 12 oz bottle and poured into a pint glass. Pours a golden to light copper color with a one finger white foam head. Smells are of coriander and lemon with a lot of yeast and malt. Carbonation is very high with a medium body. Taste is of bread, coriander, citrus peel, and lemons. Aftertaste is not much, and I guess the lemon finishes with some spiciness. Overall an ok beer. My readers know I don't care for the style much but I can appreciate what they were doing here. Regardless, it is a fitting conclusion to my 12 day beer camp journey, which was a lot of fun. As previously mentioned, I will write an extensive article about my reflections, but I honestly thought the 12 pack was better than most critics thought. Sure there were some mediocre to poor beers in here, but there were some excellent ones too. Collaborations almost always tend to be of lower quality than just one brewery (in my tasting experience). But thank you Sierra Nevada for creating a 12 pack that gets people excited to try new breweries. I'll admit there were a few in there I had never heard of (Ashville, New Glarus) that I would like to try more of. Look for that reflection shortly (maybe tomorrow-still have to write it!). But also look forward to some new exciting beers I've recently tried. 80/100 As a last joke I had so many people comment how they loved the picture of me taking a picture. Several of us witnessed the final sampling, so we thought we'd take the picture taking a picture to the next level. Thanks Ari, Allie, Jared and Tyler! Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Electric Ray collaboration with Ballast Point. India Pale Lager (IPL). 8.5% ABV. Served chilled from a 12 oz bottle and poured into a pint glass. Pours a copper-amber color with a one and a half finger white foam head. Smells are citrusy and hoppy with hints of grapefruit, mango and orange. Carbonation is high with a medium body. Taste is of grapefruit, mango, pineapple and a hoppy, bitter aftertaste. I've been on a roll the last several beers of beer camp. I must say my overall impression of the collaboration originally was that you took Sierra Nevada, a phenomenal brewery, and matched them with 12 other phenomenal breweries, and you come out with mediocre beers. However, Bell's and Ballast Point have changed my mind. (We shall see about the Allagash one tomorrow) I am a huge fan of Ballast Point beers. I think that Sculpin is one of the most consistent IPAs out there, and their Victory at Sea Porter is one of the top porters/imperial stouts in my book. Another San Diego brewery doing world class work. One more day of "camp" to go! Look forward to a few more posts about it though. I have the Sierra Nevada West Coast DIPA used as the kickoff for Beer Camp (didn't get it until halfway through). Additionally, I will write a reflection article on the experience, my favorites, least favorites and my overall rankings. 92/100 |
About MeScott is a craft beer lover living in NYC who enjoys sampling new beers and educating friends and family on the diverse and exciting world of beer. Archives
February 2016
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