West Ghost
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

L-Pours a clean heavily carbonated bodied beer that is golden in color. Nice soapy fine white head.
S- Fresh pine up front, followed by mango, papaya, an strawberry on the nose. Subtle citrus is there. Grainy earthiness follows.
T- Piney and citrusy pith up front. Subtle notes of tropical mango and papaya are there. Grassy earthiness at the backend with a nice bitter bite caps off a refreshing, and solidly complex beer.
F- Medium bodied with solid carbonation.
O- This beer is really good, on all levels. It looks solid, smells great, and tastes great. I would certainly have this one again, and would love to try it on draft from the brewery one day!

 

Nice IPA..... tall boy can. Pours a clear golden color with a tall foamy white head and generous lacing
Nose is northern pine, with tropical floral and sharp hop aroma
The taste matches the nose. Very nicely balanced / medium bodied
A good example of a well made West Coast IPA

Simply solid from top to bottom. A tad more caramelly than I prefer these days, but it stops shy of being an off flavor. Great flavor and aroma nostalgia, and assertive without being overbearing.

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week glass. Pours a light to medium golden amber with a fine, one finger white head with great retention and solid lacing. Aroma of pale malt with light biscuit, citrus and dank hops, grapefruit, catty dankness, mild orange, and light mixed tropical fruit. Flavor is lightly caramel malt, citrus, piney and dank hops, grapefruit, pine, a little dankness, mixed fruit with indistinct individual character, but some tropical and light stone fruit in the mix; solid citrus rind bitterness in the finish. Nice to see a new IPA from Sierra Nevada, this one characterized as a "modern" West Coast IPA and I'll buy that. It does have the currently popular requisite citrus and pine with some serious mixed fruit in the blend. I liked this quite a bit and hope to see it in the future. It took a while to get from California; if fruit and vegetables used the beer distribution system, they would all be limp and slimy. I'll watch for a fresh one, but still enjoyed this glass.

 

 

 

 

 

Pours a clear golden color with a white foamy head. Citrus, pine, grapefruit, and fresh hops on the nose. Crisp and bitter with grapefruit peel, pine, and light tropical notes. Nice dry finish. Light-medium body with clean carbonation. Really solid West Coast IPA. Bitter, clean, and refreshing without being overly sweet.

 

 

 

Clear amber brew with plenty of foam in the New Belgium snifter. Lemony and fruity aroma. Quite tangy and borderline acidic, especially with the bitter finish. Light body with mouthfilling carbonation. More mango flavor than I’ve encountered in a while. Plenty bitter in the aftertaste. From the 16 oz can purchased in the Northwest. Dated 01/16/26.

 

16 oz. can poured into dimpled mug
(2/20/26 born-on date printed on bottom of can)

L: about 65-80% clear light gold, slight haze in it after a light-to-medium pour while being careful not to pour the lees/debris in the glass — I wanted to see how clear this beer might be without dumping the entire can in the glass, and it's much clearer than I expected, maybe even pushing 85-95% as it sits in the glass; SRM 3 ... creeping into the "gold" territory; topped by an inch-thick head of white foam; no major sticking or lacing; keeps a full sudsy collar of white foam, just a wee piece of a skin

S: grapefruit-pineapple-mango coming out the can as you pour, very hoppy, very fruity; candied grapefruit ... very sweet but not what I would call sickly, comes close to smelling like caramel but falls just a tad short and stays more fruity than confectionary

T: smooth West Coast-style hop delivery ... it doesn't taste as sweet as the nose suggests, but it's not insanely bitter either, though it *is* bitter; more grapefruit peel than the "meat" of a sweet grapefruit, definitely citrusy, hints of something green or piney, cilantro in the aftertaste; over time it sweetens a bit, a little more of that sweet fruit from the aroma is creeping into the flavor, and the biscuity malt presence is showing, though it never gets what I'd call "bready"; at times I get a nice lemon vibe from it, maybe lemon peel mixed with just a teeny bit of lemon candy, so it's more lemon flavor than lemon sourness; the malt is clearly pulling its weight here b/c the hops never build up to the point of being too much

F: almost a bullseye right in the middle of all possibilities, leaning just a twinge to the lightweight side ... so call it a light-middleweight with plenty of crispy carbonation; as it sits in the glass and warms and the palate adjusts, the biscuity malt seems to add a bit of slick heft to it, but it never grows heavy

O: Sierra Nevada never disappoints ... I'd love to try this head-to-head with Torpedo just for fun, but the bottom line is this is squarely down the middle of West Coast IPA home plate, a good beer all around that's pushing into the great category; my can is just shy of 3 months old but shows no signs of having fallen off or changed for the worse — I'd imagine a fresher version of this would smack you in the face with hops, a few more months in the can would mellow it out and maybe allow a bit more sweetness in the flavor; my can is about as drinkable as a 7.2% ABV beer in the style can get, very easy to handle and very enjoyable

Poured from a 16 oz can into a Willi Becher glass

Pours a clear golden straw color, with about two fingers worth of white head that recedes slowly, leaving behind lots of sticky lacing.

The aroma is citrusy and piney, with notes of grapefruit, resin, some pine, and just a slight biscuity note..

The flavor is big and hoppy; Grapefruit, orange, some piney notes, slightly dank. as with the aroma, there is just a slight biscuity malt presence. Medium/light bodied and moderately carbonated.

Overall, this is a nice beer, one of the better IPA's to come out of Sierra Nevada in a while, and a welcome difference from the "Little Things" series

 

Drinking out of a snifter.
Pours a clear gold with a moderate head.
Smells somewhat includes has hints of biscuits and of pine.
Fair mouth feel. Good carbonation .
Nice bright taste. Some hop bitterness, some hint of pine. Some malt taste