Sierra Nevada Party Pack

SN has updated their website. The Kolsch is a click to the left:

https://sierranevada.com/beer/variety-packs/sierraveza

Look forward to picking up this pack.

 

That Sierraveza looks interesting at 12% plato yet only 5% abv. I was wondering if they would go for a strongly attenuated lower gravity beer in order to make it as easy drinking as possible, but that reads like a substantial pale lager beer. I would be interested to hear how they ended up mashing the grits in their brewery for the production batch/batches.

 

I wonder/hope this is the same Kolsch recipe from 2 years ago. I really don't like new label, I prefer the classic style. This looks like the generic labeling style they give to one off beers we'll probably never see again. Imagine if we had Kellerweis instead of Sidecar? My summer beer life would be complete.

 

The Kolsch ingredients from the website:

“Ingredients

• Yeast Ale yeast
• Bittering Hops Magnum
• Finishing Hops Spalt Spalter, Loral™
• Malts Acidulated, Steffi Pilsner”

https://sierranevada.com/beer/variety-packs/kolsch



Below are the ingredients of the Sierra Nevada Kolsch from the 2015 variety pack:

Alcohol Content 5.0% by volume

Beginning gravity 11.9° plato

Ending Gravity 2.5° plato

Bitterness Units 34

Yeast Ale yeast

Bittering Hops German Magnum

Finishing Hops Strisselspalt, Simcoe

Malts Two-row Pale, Pilsner, Wheat, Acidulated

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-535.295478/#post-3680615

As can be easily discerned they changed the recipe for this year’s Kolsch.

Cheers!

@SierraTerence @BillManley

 

So they dropped the Simcoe for a new Noble hop, which sounds good to me. And the Steffi pilsner malt was in the first Oktoberfest collaboration which we all loved.

 

If this helps, @SierraTerence posted this in another thread:
"We will use corn grits in the mash tun as a cereal cooker and then mash into it with our malted barley grist." He went on to say that they will not be adding any malt during the cereal cook. You can follow that discussion here. In another thread he stated that they are using a "Mexican lager strain."

 

The finishing hops for this year's Sierra Nevada Kolsch are two hop varieties:

• Spalt Spalter
• Loral

Yup, Spalt Spalter is a noble hop but Loral most certainly is not.

Cheers!

 

To be accurate I could have said Noble-ish

Loral, formerly known as HBC 291, provides a more traditional yet unique hop character, providing the floral and herbal notes one would expect from a fine noble aroma hop.

 

Below is how the hop vendor YCH details Loral:

“A Dual Purpose hop

Loral®

Brand HBC 291

United States

Loral®

aroma profile: Floral, Citrus, Fruity, Herbal

Developed by Hop Breeding Company and released in 2016, Loral® Brand HBC 291 has a noble heritage that straddles the fence between old and new world hop aromatics. It has the ability to complement all beer styles, making it a very versatile hop in the brewery. Loral® has been described as pleasant with floral, citrus, peppery and some dark fruit characteristics.

Aroma: Specific aroma descriptors include very pleasant, floral, peppery, lemon-citrus and dark fruit.”

I have not brewed with Loral yet but the descriptors of “citrus” and “dark fruit” are not terms that I personally associate with noble hops.

I utilize the hops of Saaz, Hallertau Mittelfruh, Tettnang and Spalt a lot in my brewing. Right now in my basement I have a Bohemian Pilsner and 1896 Michelob that feature Saaz, a Classic American Pilsner that features Hallertau Mittelfruh and a Kolsch which was solely hopped with Tettnang.

Cheers!

P.S. In the past I drank a lager from Yards Brewing at a German Beer festival that featured Loral. I did enjoy drinking that sample size pour of this beer but I do not recall the specific flavor profile of this beer.

 

Since this hop is new to me I looked it up on Yakima valley hops:
https://www.yakimavalleyhops.com/Loral_Hops_p/hopsloral1-2016crop.htm

Their description is a "super noble hop" and no mention of dark fruits. Maybe it just depends on the grower or crop year. Anyway I have full faith in SN producing a faithful representation compared to most other domestic breweries.

 

I bought the Party Pack a couple of days ago and I have similar expectations as you. The resulting beer is as much about brewing process (e.g., how much of the Loral hops are used, when they are used in the hopping schedule, what are the other hops utilized and how well do they compliment each other,...) as just the list of ingredients.

I will discuss the Sierra Nevada Kolsch in an upcoming New Beer Sunday thread. Maybe I will do a side-by-side tasting with my recent homebrewed batch of Kolsch?

Cheers!

 

I am presently drinking my first beer of the Party Pack - SNPA (which was bottled in March). Boy, this beer is a genuine joy to drink! I really can't remember the last time I had a fresh SNPA, maybe 10 years ago?

I am looking forward to drinking the next 2 bottles of SNPA from this pack!!

Cheers!

@SierraTerence @BillManley

 

What did you pay for your pack?

Did you take note of the mention in post #38:

"Great value too at $13.99..."

Cheers!

 

This is a great pack for hot summer days by the pool, I will be getting this in my fridge for sure. The price is always great also.

 

Depends on where you live.

Cheers!

 

Picked this up for $14.99 at Wegmans. Currently having a Sierraveza and damn that's a good AAL Looking forwards to trying the rest of the pack.

 

This didn't last long in my fridge. I'll be buying another pack or two for sure.

I went back to their website and saw that they are releasing a 4.0% ABV session IPA in cans. I've given up on session IPAs since they all taste like hoppy water to me. But since this is SN I will make an exception and give this one a shot.

https://sierranevada.com/beer/specialty/3-weight-session-ipa

 

Please report back re: hop water.

Cheers!