Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

BA Bigfoot, meet Pig Destroyer Jon. Pig Destroyer Jon, meet BA Bigfoot.


Last Friday night was the Sierra Nevada event at The Ruck. Oddly, most of the beers they were offering had already been on draft earlier in the week, even the Porter on cask and the Brandy Barrel Ovila Quad. Given that we were there for wing night on Monday and had already had the majority of the event’s beers on tap, this definitely took away a lot of the luster of the event away for our whole group; I’m sure we weren’t the only ones to feel this way.
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Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada Collaborate on new Imperial IPA: Rhizing Bines

From Dogfish Head’s Blog:

On the hot side, Rhizing Bines will go through Dogfish’s signature continual-hopping process with floral and citrusy Bravo hops. On the cold side, it will be dry-hopped with an experimental varietal so new it doesn’t yet have a name, just a number: Hop 644. A component of Sierra Nevada’s aroma-boosting Torpedo system will make a pit-stop in Delaware for dry-hopping duty before it heads to Sierra’s new North Carolina brewery.

To celebrate Sierra Nevada planting East Coast roots, Dogfish Head tracked down a Carolina heirloom wheat grown and milled at Anson Mills. The soft red winter wheat contributes subtle sweet and nutty notes to this hop-forward ale.

Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada are standbys in the IPA world, with DFH landing in BeerAdvocate’s Top 50 DIPA’s with 90 Minute and Sierra Nevada in the Top 50 American IPAs with Northern Hemisphere Harvest Wet Hop Ale. I look forward to this beer coming out, although February is an odd month to release a DIPA.

August Doom Saloon Tasting Part Duex

Hops and Roses
Brute
Brute, Trois Poules Français, Row 2/Hill 56, Pliny
Merc
Ken
CaveDave
Dino
Brux
Mischief Gone Wild, Trois Poules Français

After hammering the IPAs we moved on to a random mish mash or whatever else was brought including some gems like Brute, Hops and Roses, and everyone’s favorite whale: Bud Light Lime-A-Rita!

Bud Light Lime-A-Rita

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Beer Mail Part I

– I wanted to make sure I put up a shout out to Yet Another Beer Blog for sending this killer extras box before half of it got drank today on #IPADay without proper attribution. I haven’t done a trade that wasn’t an in person trade since the FedEx Beer Fairy graced my presence back in April, where I traded the same thing, Heady Topper. I love to trade Heady Topper for locals since it’s (fairly) easy to get, I might get to try beers from another part of the country I’m not be able to get otherwise, and I know it’s going to blow the mind of the person receiving it for the first time.

I got home and this was one of those kinda things where I expected a can or two extra and saw the box when I walked in the door and was like “Wow, that’s a large box for a couple of cans of beer, he must have packed those cans up pretty goo….hhhHHOLY SHIT THAT’S A LOT OF BEER!!!” Please keep in mind, this is just an extras box. That’s fucking awesome. I was just saying earlier that day I was looking for some more Breakfast Stout (which isn’t available around here) so I could finally do the Founders Breakfast tasting I’ve been waiting to do since I got my bottle of CBS last fall. This rounds out what I need and I can finally get that done. Also are you fucking kidding me with that Surly Furious? What a solid IPA that nooooooo one can get around here. Can NOT wait to crack that open tonight.

Thanks again. Cheers!

Manhattan, NY: Harpoon Leftovers at Rattle N Hum [Post-Grad Boozin’]

Let me apologize for the pictures I’ll post today from my last trip to NYC since it seems most bars there have their mood-lighting set to “Rape”. Rattle N Hum was the worst offender of the places we went to that day. Cave-like appearance at like 4 in the afternoon, lit mostly by tealight candles. Kinda a shame considering how beautiful of a day it was, but the dark is great for boozin’, not so great for taking pics. Also, being hammered by this point in the day didn’t help the photography, either. I digress.

After JD’s graduation and receiving his Masters Degree from Columbia, celebration was in order. We had several rounds of drinks and eats at a couple of bars of his parents choosing, but after that is was time to get to the real drinking. Rattle N Hum was our first stop, and we took advantage of the previous night’s Harpoon Tap Takeover while we were there.

First two beers were the Harpoon Leviathan Barleywine 2010 and 2011 versions. Both were “just OK” and didn’t really stand out for the style for me. We realized at this point that if we wanted to try the number of beers we planned on having there and still make it to any of our other destinations that day we were going to have to switch to flights. No biggie. We ordered two:

  • Brewery Ommegang – Zuur
  • Founders Brewing Company – Double Trouble
  • Harpoon Brewery – Leviathan Imperial IPA
  • Harpoon Brewery – Leviathan Quad
  • Harpoon Brewery – Rodney’s Solera
  • Rogue Ales – Chipotle Ale
  • Rogue Ales – John John Dead Guy Ale
  • Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. – Kellerweis Hefeweizen

Honestly, other than the Double Trouble which I’ve had before, none of these beers knocked it out of the park for me. Most were good or better, some were terrible (Zuur, Chipotle). Next time I go to Rattle N Hum will be for a tap-takeover I am really looking forward to (like the Cigar City one a couple of weeks ago, or their upcoming Founders night).

As for Rattle N Hum itself, it didn’t completely blow me away either. It’s one of those bars that are too small for waiter-service but they have it anyway, and you really just want to go to the bar to grab drinks but you get hounded by waitresses instead. Maybe things are different on a event night. I’ll let you know when and if I make it to one.

@SierraNevada – Hoptimum Double IPA [#Beertography, #BeerPhotoFriday]

This is another beer that’s had some pretty “punch you in your face” hops and biterness. 100 IBUs to be exact. This has such fresh hop flavor it’s like you’re drinking straight vegetation. I’m not enamored with it but can’t deny it’s a very good beer. Drinkability is pretty low for me, though. Definitely could only drink one of these in a night. Otherwise I’m really liking all the new beers I’ve been having from Sierra Nevada (like the Ruthless Rye IPA). They’re really killin’ it.