If you read this blog on a regular basis you'll know I'm keeping a Drunk Diary this month, if you're paying attention to it you'll know that I drank 3 bottles of Sierra Nevada Torpedo yesterday.
To me, Sierra Nevada are a very interesting brewery, they produce a massive amount of beer every year and yet they still seem to be considered a 'micro'-brewery! I consider them a craft brewery rather than a micro because they make beer the right way and still manage to make large quantities of beer. Usually when a Brewery starts making bigger quantities the beer geeks/purists/snobs/raters, call them what you will, complain about a lack of consistency and loss of street cred. Apparently if you make large quantities then you aren't sticking to your values, not sticking it to the man, you become 'the man'. My Mate Sid Boggle wrote a great piece of this here Now Sid's piece was written about a trend toward so-called extreme beer and the fact that the beer snobs don't consider a brewer credible if they don't make at least one super strong beer. The beer snobs tend to forget facts like Sierra Nevada doing big beers like the Bigfoot, trying to move into 100% sustainable energy production, the fact that the brewery is still owned by one of its founders, hardly uninteresting sell-outs.
The Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA is not an extreme beer, it is however still interesting and well worthy of the title a craft brew. It has a big hop character but it also has balance bought to it by a perfect combination of Two Row Pale and Crystal malts bought together with the Magnum, Crystal and Citra hops, Magnificent! This could fast become one of my firm favourites.
4 comments:
Still havent got round to trying this one. Sierra Nevada pale ale is my beer of choice at the moment. There are times when I don't want to disect and pull apart the beer I'm drinking. I just want something I know tastes great. Something I can enjoy without any brain power or feeling like I've missed a chance to fully appreciate what I'm drinking. Sierra Nevada pale ale (along with Punk IPA) is that beer at the moment.
Your point about quantity is totally relevant because, to fit the above category, the beer must be readily available. I can honestly say, the size of the brewer doesn't cross my mind. If it tastes good, great. If it's easy to get hold of, even better!
Chunk
Nicely said Glyn, and thanks for the plug. Beer and brewers don't need to be extreme, and SN are a good example of sticking to their principles and being successful.
Latest news from New England is that their collaboration beer with Dogfish Head (called Life & Limb, and there's also a version called Limb & Life, I believe) was released at an event at Redbones beer bar in Somerville (sort of Boston) and was sold out in a few hours. So, a 'spooge'-type reaction for SN...
Chunk - SNPA is still a great beer, draught or bottle, I don't tend to disect most beers I have, I drink them because I like them and because they're available. This is probably where I slip up and tend to drink more than I should, because I enjoy the beers I'm drinking at the time and instead of moderating slightly I'll session something like Torpedo or Brewdog Punk IPA.
Sid - Dogfish head are now a lot more available than they were 12 months ago as Vertical are bringing them in (apparently) so I look foward to the life and limb.
I think it's fair to say that good breweries sometimes lose it a bit when their beers get out of their control. Meantime are getting there but, for a long time, it was hard to get a pint of any of their beers anywhere else that tasted even nearly as good as they do at the Greenwich Union.
Fuller's beers are pretty consistently good in London but they only achieve that through some rigorous quality control inspections. They're often ropy as Hell outside London.
I don't think I can really fault Sierra Nevada, though. Even good old SN Pale Ale takes me aback every time I drink it because it's so good.
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