2018 SN Celebration Lookout Thread

SN Terence mentioned in another thread it started shipping on Monday (15 Oct). Hoping by middle of next week myself.

 

Following. Would love to see it next week.

 

Ahhhh constants in life
1) Death
2) Taxes
3) @EnronCFO annual SN Celebration lookout thread

!

 

We always see it later in CT, just hoping I get it by Halloween

 

Dude just buy a log. I got one a couple years ago and it was like $68...easily the biggest steal I've ever made beer-wise.

That said, I bought the Oktoberfest for $12.99 a 12-pack when it came out.

 

Distributor on south shore is out of Oktoberfest, was told I’ll be able to order Celebration and Snow Packs starting the 22nd

 

Throw some aged Celebrations in there for good measure and now things are getting interesting.

I'm curious, is Celebration on draft different than the bottled version like Pale Ale is?

@SierraTerence

Speaking of aging, I see a boat load of Celebration each year, but I don't see as much Bigfoot. I see some similarities between the two beers, with Bigfoot being an almost bigger version of Celebration. Recipes for each are very similar as well.

In fact, it's not necessarily the hop profile that stands out for each beer, but the malt profile. There's nothing special about it, but Sierra Nevada always seems to make the most of out two-row pale/caramel malts.

I think it's what makes these beers special, is the balance. And then when each ages, that malt profile pulls through and makes a different, albeit, excellent beer.

Basically this is my long way of saying, I wonder why one seemingly does better than the other. It might just be an artifact of Celebration being one of the four core seasonals, so stores order more of it. And/or the Barleywine style isn't as popular anymore.

 

guessing it's got more to do with one being a slightly big but approachable IPA in affordable 6 and 12 packs, and one being a giant 10%er in slightly pricey 4pks. The latter really only appeals to beer geeks, the former to a pretty wide range. I'm guessing they make a lot more celebration, too.

I really enjoy both but have taken the past couple of years off from Bigfoot mainly due to avoiding high ABV beers for the most part.

 

Celebration ale is one of their bottle conditioned beers so this would be a likely difference between the bottled & draft version.

 

And now that I think about it, does anyone know if their draft vs bottled Celebration have different ABV's like SNPA does? It's not insignificant, I believe it's 5.0% vs 5.6% respectively.

 

edit: oops @AlcahueteJ asked the same question right before me.... I was reading backwards.

 

Exactly, the bottle conditioning is one thing (although do they condition the kegs too? probably not based on the quotation below).

But I wonder if the ABV is different too. Here's @BillManley 's explanation of the differences between bottle and draft Pale Ale.

"Draught is Slightly more malt forward, (higher % of crystal malt) and not keg conditioned, lower ABV as well. Draught Pale Ale is 5% ABV by volume and Bottle is 5.6% ABV by volume.

-B"

 

My local's nearly out of O-fest.

I imagine it hitting MA/NH distro by early next week, so I plan on drinking some next weekend. Long time favorite of mine as well.

WRT draft vs bottle, I find the draft version OK, but certainly not as hoppy as the bottled version.

 

This would align with what happens with the Pale Ale as well.

Also a personal favorite, looking forward to it! My local is out of O-fest too, time to Celebrate.

 

$12.99? Damn, I only ever see 12-pks in CT for $14.99 (sometimes $15.99) whereas the 6-pks are consistently $9.99 (so, a 12-pk is a no-brainer, but $12.99 sounds amazing). Also curious... I love this thread and it gets me pumped every year, but is celebration ale hard to find in MA (OP is from MA it appears)? Typically threads like these start due to hard to find beers (perhaps it's just to get people pumped for the season over an amazing beer). I see it all over the place in CT when it comes out... not trying to rub it in if it's rare in some areas, but just curious.

 

Nah, it's everywhere.

I assume the thread was inspired by curiosity over which new spices will be featured in this year's Celebration.