Beer Camp Across America West Coast Double IPA
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

 

I have discovered some ancient beers that I just want to exbeeriment with & see how they have held up. This is the fifth & last.

From the Bottle: "Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Presents Beer Camp Across America Summer 2014"; "Every Craft Brewer Is Invited"; "Join Us to Make This the Largest Craft Beer Celebration In History"; "West Coast Double IPA"; "This summer we're throwing a monumental seven-city traveling beer festival. Don't miss it! We've invited every U.S. craft brewer - around 2,800 - to serve their beers at the festival nearest them. Experience the largest craft beer celebration in history with us. Visit SierraNevada.com/BeerCamp to get your tickets."; "Northwest Chico, CA Sat. July 19/Southwest San Diego, CA Sun. July 20/Rocky Mountain Denver, CO Fri. July 25/Midwest Chicago, IL Sun. July 27/New England Portland, ME Fri. August 1/Mid-Atlantic Philadelphia, PA Sat. August 2/Southeast Mills River, NC Sun. August 3"; "Cheers, [undersigned] Ken and Brian Grossman".

I Pop!ped the cap & started a slow, gentle C-Line pour. This provided me to opportunity to simply sit back & watch as it foamed up to form two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, tawny head with excellent retention. Color was a gorgeous Deep-Amber/Light-Copper to Copper (SRM = > 13, < 17) with NE-quality clarity. Nose had a pungent citrusiness, like a cross between orange zest & grapefruit. Mmm. Mouthfeel was full & creamy, like a dollop had been scooped into my mouth & onto my tongue. Interestingly, its taste was grapefruit & orange, but with a very light bitterness. It also had a light pepperiness, putting me in mind of orange black pekoe tea. I was hesitant to type that since it did not have the mellowness that I usually/generally associate with tea-like beers. I would be interested to know its hop & malt bill since it seemed to have held up really well. I did not get any malty sweetness, which is usually the first thing to come forward as the hops fade. Finish was dry & bitter & I was quite happy with what it had become over time. YMMV.

 

Pours copper, substantial transparency despite the significant amount of malt used here. 3/4" mostly white head. Aroma of the Cbut hops.

Taste is a primary caramel and grapefruit, the carbonation is similar to that in SNPA, it is significant but well paired bc of the caramel and almost toffee presence in terms of the grain and woodlike malt feels from this one but without using darker or more roasted malt. Chinook, Centennial, and Cascade would be my guess with the hops, they definitely push the grapefruit forest notion. Could also see a little bit of Simcoe being in these. They went with more of a dry west coast base instead of the heartier ones like they have in Celebration or SNPA comparatively. The hopping seems similar to Torpedo.

Clearing out some old reviews today waiting for the NCAA brackets to get announced.

 

 

 

The pour is true amber. Chill haze on a creamy gold body with a lasting head of off white foam. Nose is catty with weeds and dank with pineapple. Tropical notes, pungent grapefruit. Spice and pepper.

A little sugar shows off the hop herbal and those sweetened hops come together with just a ting from alcohol in this textbook perfect DIPA.

Mouthefeel is deceptively light for the abv . Not breaddy but soft and transient as the alcohol leaves as bitter as the hops. It's like you drew sap from the stem of a flowering plant.

 

2014 Beer Camp version rating. Dark golden and clear, with a pretty substantial (and lasting) head. Faint aroma of hops. For a DIPA this has fairly mild taste, abv also hides well in the mix. This could honestly pass for regular IPA, but beware the kick at the end.

24oz 2014 bottle that should've been consumed a year ago! Still retained decent bitterness: grassy, grapefruit pith & a metallic hop finish. Full- body and medium carbonation. Added points for my aging!

 

This review is based on drinking on 7/25/14 . Got it fresh, and it was a great example of the style. Very crisp bite. Great balance of bitter and tropical fruitiness. Look forward to the next time they do this.