Sierra Nevada West vs. East Coast

I live in MD and honestly don't check where my SN beers come from. This year recently from my recollection...
SNPA - very bland/boring to me more than I recall from the past
Torpedo - more delicious than ever to me
Oktoberfest - extremely delicious this year

 

I joined the craft beer scene in 2012 or so.
I started off drinking from the large breweries; SN, Stone and Lagunitas.
I had tried several beers from SN before the NC brewery opened in 2014 and I can’t say I noticed a difference except for the freshness dates and that the beers now seem to be a little fresher, or maybe it was wish full thinking. I was happy when SN and Stone started brewing on the East Coast.

 

I don't think Sierra Nevada brews all of their various beers on the east coast.

 

Honestly I haven't noticed a difference. Their beers are still tasting great to me.

 

Not really and east/west comment, but I have noticed that distribution in Connecticut as been about a month behind posts from BAs in many states of new releases. Why does an east coast brewery take so long to land product here? And yes every product I see here is from SC.
By the way I love SN beers and have been to the SC facility and think its one of the nicest breweries I have ever visited (and I have visited well over 70).

 

Same in Md, I just noticed SN Octoberfest this week for first time. Hasn’t others been drinking it for 3 weeks now? No Fall packs yet either. But then within Maryland, the I95 corridor seems to be at least 1-2 weeks ahead of rest of the state (and MD is such a tiny state...kinda sad.

 

Haven’t noticed any difference. However, my first 6-pack of Oktoberfest this year has been a bit flat, pouring with minimal head. That is very unusual for SN beers.

 

I never really look at the bottle when I drink SN, where does it say on the label where is was brewed/bottled? I've only had SNPA and Torpedo this year and they both tasted like they always have.

 

Sierra Nevada's coding lists the brewery - either a "C" (Chico) or an "M" (Mill RIver) somewhere within the code, depending on package - see SN's 17 page DATE CODE pdf.

 

I may not the best person to comment in this thread since I have not purchased SN year-round beers in quite some time; they always seem to be too old at my local beer retailers.

I do occasionally purchase special releases like this past spring's SN variety pack which included Kolsch, Pale Ale, Sierraveza and Sidecar. Of those four beers only the Pale Ale was a 'standard' SN beer and FWIW it tasted the same to me. The Kolsch was a 'new' beer in that they tweaked the hops used to produce that beer. The Sierraveza was a new beer altogether. And the Sidecar was an update since it was an IPA (last year Sidecar was a Pale Ale).

I did visit the brewery at Mills River last fall (October 2017) and I had several beers at the brewpub but from memory they were all 'new' beers (e.g., an early version of Hazy Little Things, a Kolsch, a Belgian Abbey Ale, etc.).

Sierra Nevada takes great pride in their beer quality. Based upon this aspect I would think they could consistently brew beers at both facilities (Chico and Mills River).

Maybe they conduct regular sensory analysis tastings to confirm this (like AB does with beers like Budweiser at the main brewery - St. Louis)?

Perhaps Terence (@SierraTerence) can provide more input here?

Cheers!

 

Yes, every Friday we taste 3 different styles of beer that was packaged on each coast and within a week of each other to see how our flavor matching is preforming. Always comparing Pale Ale and usually Torpedo and Hazy. We compare on appearance, aroma, taste, mouthfeel and we have developed a scale for "True to Brand" for each sample. When we are done, we identify the location and date of packaging.

At least a couple times a week we run blind tasting of Pale Ale from each location to see how close they rate on our "true to brand" scale.

We take pride in putting quality first at Sierra!

 

The difference I seen in SN is neither a west or east coast thing but the fact that their head brewer retired last year or year and a half ago. There was an article on BA about it and ever since I noticed a difference, especially in their coffee stout. I still buy SN but for last year and a half to 2 Years hasn't been the same. I blame it on head brewer retiring, sort've what happens when the head chef leaves a good restaurant.

 

Certainly not arguing with you but I buy SN more than any other packaged beer and I've never noticed a change in the quality of the beer. And if I had to put my trust in any craft brewer's quality control, it would be Sierra Nevada, hands down. Just my experience though. Cheers!

 

Can't a coffee stout be affected by suppliers, too, though? Do we know that they're still using Stumptown? (I'm not implying anything regarding quality, fwiw, just that sometimes suppliers have other commitments, and then it can be difficult matching that exact profile with another supplier, that sort of thing...).

 

I also buy SN more than any other brand but started noticing off flavors last year and a half when the head brewer left. Even Ruthless Rye in this years fall pack wasn't as good as I remembered years back. SN is still good but the head brewer leaving made them not as good as they were

Maybe but I love SN and coffee stout is one of my favorites. Last year was first time I noticed it not being that good and that's when the head brewer left. Winter pack usually comes out in October and the coffee stout will taste good til April but last year it wasn't even good in October. Something was off and found it to be quite coincidental that this happened same time when the head brewer left.

 

And you mentioned Ruthless Rye in post #17 above.

How about the year-round beers (e.g., SNPA). Have you noticed a change in quality of those beer since Steve Dresler retired?

Cheers!

 

Sierra Nevada has well equipped labs, educated palates on the tasting panels, and a deep bench of brewing talent. If you are the head brewer at a brewery the size of SN, would even be brewing?

 

No that I haven't. SNPA continues to achieve my expectations. It's not all SN beers I seen a difference but have in some.