Sierra Nevada 2017 Snowpack

Samuel Adams released information on there website about the Amber Bock which is going to be in there winter classics pack this year just thought I would let you guys know if you are interested. Cheers!

 

They also released information on the oatmeal stout as well

 

I wonder if Sierra Nevada will put them in their Snow Pack?

 

Would really love to see this land in Baton Rouge. But alas, I know that it will not.

 

Sounds great, this will absolutely be on my radar!
Sierra Nevada rarely lets me down.

 

You beat me to it, but yes Holiday Haze is amazing! I would buy this all year by the 12 pack if I had the option. We (I definitely) need this! Tell your colleagues, please, Sierranevadabill! Lol


Its that good. The Wintertide Ales tastes cloying to me and is a tough finish for me, but even so I am contemplating getting another pack just to get some more of the holiday haze (and I am not one of those riding the haze hype train, its just a damn good beer). I was hoping it would be interesting, but did not think I would love it even more than the coffee stout.

 

The holiday haze is sounding like its worth a shot. I love the coffee stout. Not a huge fan of the SNPA but I will drink it. The spiced ale is right up there with pumpkin beers for me so its hard to rationalize buying a 12 pack to only drink 9, especially at around $16, that turns this into a $21 pack. I am leaning on the pass side of this pack.

Enjoy

 

@sierranevadabill I second this notion. I think holiday haze hits all the right notes. Its obviously loved by those beer geeks here on BA who have tried it, and it also hits the "haze" trend, and its a beer that is complex and flavorful without being intimidating to those new to craft. I certainly prefer it to Tropical Torpedo. In short, its a brew with a lot of appeal across demographics. A beer this good, priced at SN's competitive price points, could be a real winner in terms of both quality and sales. I daresay its a new favorite of mine which I would happily buy year around in 6 or 12 packs. and my only regret is that I can't buy it whenever I want unless it gets a wider, stand alone release schedule.

 

Our store got the mid July dated SN Octoberfest as well, but they must have brewed another batch bc for the last couple weeks we have been getting ones dated 9/19.

 

Just curious as to why you wouldn't be able to do something similar to what Sam Adams does where they have a solid set seasonal like Octoberfest but then also have a one off seasonal like this year's Havest Hefe or last year's 20 pounds of pumpkin?

Then again looking back at the dumpster fire that was Hopscape, maybe Sam Adams isnt the best seasonal model to follow.

 

Buy the ones packaged in late August, and who doesn't like a slight age on an festbier?

Jack, if this is all you have to worry about, you're doing good.

 

Oh, I have other worries.

Cheers!

 

That question was more or less answered in post #137 of this thread.

 

Have had all the beers in this and I have to say that it is a fantastic pack.

 

For me the Holiday Haze hit the notes I was expecting from an NEIPA from the descriptors on this site. Granted, that's about the only context or frame of reference I have for this style--we just don't have locals brewing NEIPA's here in WV, nor do we have regionals distributing them, due to the fact that they tend to be hyper-local, uber fresh offerings. And the areas I typically beercation in do not seem to have them in abundant supply either. So I don't really have any exemplars of the style to compare it to. But if Holiday Haze could be called a NEIPA, I can definitely see why the style has caught on with those who have regular access to it--its a damn good beer. The bitterness is very mild and understated to my palette (though still noticeable) and I thought it was "juicier" than what I typically expect from SN, but again I don't really have a comparative frame of reference in regards to HH and other NE-styled/leaning IPA's. Given SN's superior bottling operations, they would be one of the best breweries to distribute a beer of this style, as their brews in general tend to hold up better over time than those of many other regionals, though. So at the very least it could fill in a gap in regions that do not typically have NEIPA's available. That's a market gap that I think could be profitable for SN to fill, if they decide to make HH a regular offering.

 

Not sure if you noticed that I quoted post #137 in mine, and was asking a question based off of that post. Sam Adams puts out two seasonals without being told to choose one, and neither of them are poorly distributed or hard to find, so I was wondering why SN wouldn't be able to do the same if they believed there was a moderate demand for it. Do their distributors have different standards for how many seasonal should be offered? Do they have more difficulty getting one offs through their entire distribution network than SA? Do they take more pride in their company than to constantly throw new beers at the wall just to see what sticks?

For me personally it doesn't matter much, because even if the coffee stout was available in line priced stand alone 6ers, I'd rather pay the $2 extra to buy a 6pk of Narwhal.

 

After the past few years Mixed packs, I haven't been excited. However, when I read about this one, I jumped right outta my seat in excitement! I can see myself getting a bunch of these this winter along with Celebration! I can't wait to try the Winter Warmer and Holiday Haze

 

Sorry, I didn't pay attention to the quoted post.

I guess they sort of have 2 seasonals per quarter along with the mixed packs if you count Bigfoot, Hoptimum and Narwhal (although those 3 are on a slightly different schedule).

I'd like to see the year round beers dropped from the mixed packs and put in 1 more of each of the 'seasonal' beers. For example, with the snowpack, drop SNPA and have 4 of each of the others. Only 3 different beers but I think those are the beers that make the snowpack attractive to many buyers.

 

I totally agree with you on dropping the year rounds from the mixed packs, not just for SN, but all the other breweries that do the same.

I've enquired as to why they don't do that with sales reps and brand managers and their answer is always the same. In the case of SN many casual beer drinkers out there only know Sierra Pale Ale and are not familiar with any of their other beers. So if a mixed pack has 12 beers in it that they have never heard of or tried before, they are less likely to pick it up than if there is a familiar and well liked beer in it along with 9 other "new to them" beers. Unfortunately us BA's are not the majority of beer drinkers, so I don't expect this practice to change anytime soon.

 

Just wanna throw in my 2cents on this pack...I'll second (or third or fourth or whatever...) the sentiment on the Hazy brew. I'm not all about this style and haven't had the vast majority of them from the east coast, but I think I've had enough to get the gist of what makes a good one and this one is nice...the sierra signature is there in the background, but it really hits the right notes as mentioned above. It was much, much closer (if not as good/better?) to the limited number of standards I've tried than what I expected. For the price point especially it's really well done.

And that dang coffee stout. Tasty...as...hell...

If they switched out the pale with celebration, I'd probably buy little else over the next few months, but I do enjoy the standard pale, takes me back to the good old days.

I hate spiced Christmas ales, but this one isn't overly offensive like some of them and am sure will be enjoyed by friends if not myself at the right time.

I've skipped several of Sierra's recent mix packs, but overall this one is on point!