Sierra Nevada 2007 Celebration Ale

2007 Celebration Ale; Sierra Nevada's holiday offering. This is why the holidays are my favorite beer season. As far as I know, this beer like many other holiday offerings, is not made the same every year. But it is consistently excellent, and this year is no different.

I might be a little partial to this brew though. When I was actively home brewing, a cloned recipe of this was on my regular rotation.

This fine beverage is a nice amber color with little but lingering head. The scent is strong with hops and just a hint of malt. It weighs in at 6.8% alcohol by volume and the taste slightly hints this.
The Celebration Ale would classify as an IPA due to the alcohol content and bitterness.

If you don't like hops, please go ahead and buy this beer and send it to me. The first mouthful greets you with, SURPRISE, hops. I love hops. There is also a hint of the alcohol but is easily overlooked. The hops are citrusy, which is characteristic of Cascade and Centennial hops. The Celebration also gives the lucky consumer what I like to call the "regiving of flavor". This is caused by the carbonation reacting inside the consumer's stomach resulting in some of those gases being expelled back out the mouth. During this process, the blessed drinker is reminded of the wonderful flavor that is Celebration Ale. The regiving of flavor is made possible by dry hopping the beer during the final phase of fermentation. I personally believe every beer is made just a little bit better by dry hopping. Unfortunately not every brewer agrees with me.

You can't imagine my joy when I went into my local "candy" store and saw this on display. They had several closed cases and a few six packs sitting on top. I picked up two six packs and within two seconds decided to swap those for a case. I know I'll be going back soon to get more. Did I mention I like this beer?

Overall, I highly recommend you DON'T buy this beer. Why? So I can buy more.

By the way, the "candy" store I got mine from also had at least five cases of the most excellent Sierra Nevada Fresh Hop Ale. I'll be getting more of that next time I go back, too.

Fresh Hop vs Fresh Hop

VS.

Last night I decided it would be a good idea to compare the Sierra Nevada Harvest Fresh Hop Ale and the Great Divide Fresh Hop Ale. In that order. The World Series was on and I figured it would be fun.

First the Sierra Nevada. The first noticable difference is the size of the bottle. You get a whole two more ounces with the Sierra Nevada. BONUS!!! The aroma is excellent. Hoppy and excellent. The taste does not disappoint either. Excellent hop flavor and what I call "after flavor". That's when you burp and get to re-taste the hops. I love that in a beer. No noticable alcohol taste in this one. Just hops with a little malt. I think this is a top notch beer.

Second, I opened the Great Divide. I've had this before and have always enjoyed it. A bit pricey at $6 per bottle but definately worth it as an occasional brew. Keep in mind that I had the SNHFH first. I wasn't able to spell hops like I usually can when I first poured this. Immediately I knew that I should have had this one first. The first taste was not what I had known of this beer. Again...should have had this one first. Fortunately it was a double duce (22 oz. bottle) and by the time I was half way through it was as I had known it before. Excellent hop aroma, excellent hop taste, and excellent hop after flavor. Also no noticable alcohol in this one. Another top notch beer. But if you ever decide to have both of these in one sitting, have this one first.

Overall both are fine examples of an American Pale Ale and I highly recommend both. The Great Divide is slightly less hoppy but no less enjoyable. Go get yourself one or 10 of each today, open one up, put on The White Stripes - Icky Thump, and enjoy.