2019 Sierra Nevada Summerfest

@SierraTerence ?

 

I see it all over NJ - bought a 12-pk a few weeks ago, bottled 03/26 (or 28 - bottles are in the recycle bin and labels got wet and the ink ran). Freshest SN I've found in a long time.

As for your market - I'd say go through the normal process:

SN website's Beer Finder / ask your retailer / call your local SN distributor / email SN...

 

This years tasted difference to me than previous. I noticed more of a hop presence in there.

 

Full stock here in AZ, 12 packs going for $14.99, you just cannot beat that price. Now I need to run out and get some lol, I love this beer.
Cheers

 

Maybe you just drank it fresher this year?

 

Tasting as good as ever. One of my all-time favorites.

 

One of my favorite beers not only due to taste but for nostalgic reasons, I finally saw it in my area yesterday (almost walked right by it too, not a fan of its new label) but passed because the store I was in had it way overpriced, will pick it up somewhere else. With Victory Prima Pils being recently reformulated (and for my palate I liked the change a lot) and SF and some others it's going to be a great summer of Pils

 

Is Sierra-Veza any good? I saw some for $7.99/six pack, but I passed. Anyone had it?

 

Really, where did you see this news? What did they do?

Edit: Never mind, here we go:

It used to be 50 IBUs?! Jeez.

https://thetakeout.com/how-often-do-breweries-change-a-beer-recipe-1833330451

The poster child for this might be Victory Brewing’s Prima Pils, the brewery’s flagship German pilsner first brewed in 1996. Though it’s one of Victory’s most respected beers, the company recently found Prima sales had dropped two years in a row. It was time for a change.

“It’s my child, my favorite beer we make in the brewery so I’m very protective of it,” Barchet says. “But you can’t keep doing the same thing if it’s not working.”

Barchet noticed that he wasn’t able to drink the same quantity of Prima as he used to—by the third beer, his palate felt a little tired. He and the brewing team decided that dropping the beer’s bitterness level ever so slightly—from 5o bitterness units to about 45—might do the trick. Victory’s brewers also changed their process to incorporate Prima’s hops at a different point in the brewing process—almost entirely in the hopback rather than the brew kettle—which gives the beer more hop aroma with less hop bitterness.

“We’re really happy with how it came out. It’s a little more of a modern take based on where taste buds are and where the market is,” Barchet says. “We felt that if Prima was going to carry on, we need to get it a little more modern.”

But there will be no massive announcement of the change, no “New Recipe!” label splashed across six-packs. Victory isn’t trying to hide the change, Barchet says, but they’re also not trying to scare away long-time Prima Pils drinkers. It’s a delicate, calculated risk to take with a venerated beer: in making changes that aim to improve the recipe, there’s a chance some of its steady customers might now like the change. Barchet, for his part, is confident in the new Prima, and he says that as a long-time fan himself.

“I don’t think people will necessarily be able to pick out the change,” he says. “I hope they just think ‘Wow, this is a good batch. This is a Prima batch I really like.’”

 

Available here in Boston area as well. I also grabbed a twelve-pack of cans packaged 3/26.

Tastes great to me. Despite the labeling which only says lager, it is supposed to be a Czech-style Pilsner, so should have a good hop presence.

I love SN’s seasonals. Summerfest, Oktoberfest, and Celebration are all great and great values in my book.

 

I'm with you on this. It seems like distribution is spotty around my area -- plenty of spots toward the cities (Chicago and Milwaukee), very few in-between.

I was able to find six-packs over the Wisconsin line at one store and took advantage. Tasting very good -- reminding me more of Anchor's California Lager than I recall, though not at all identical.

@DarkDragon999 I think @AlcahueteJ is on a good track here, what beer can be found seems very fresh. But it seems like that 2-row is dominating the flavor a little this year. It's well balanced by the other malts and the hops to make it delish, but it's amped up to my palate.

 

@AlcahueteJ

Depending on how Brut IPA sold through in your area... It was not good in some places, so our distributors will bring the next seasonal based off inventories from the previous seasonal. Delaying that actually available release time.

 

Glad to know it's not just my own aging palate.

 

This makes sense for my area -- lotta Brut IPA 12-packs still on shelves.

 

It does taste a bit too hoppy for me this year. If the recipe hasn't changed it could be that I've been drinking more Kolsch and Helles. I do stay away from Pils when compared to those 2 other styles but Summerfest always seemed like a softer Pils to me (and that's what I liked about it). I'd probably pick up Sierraveza over Summerfest from now on.

 

It's more of a Mexican lager than a pilsner, so don't go in expecting a hoppy pilsner, but yeah, it's good. It's one of those ideal thirst-quenching, refreshing, crushable hot weather beers.

 

Here's my thoughts and they ended up dropping the IBUs to 43:

Southeastern PA - news, releases, updates, etc. (2019)

 

I love it and the only reason I don't buy much of it is because it's way overpriced in my area ($10.99/sixer) but once the price drops or if I see it for cheaper I will be all over it...for that price I would jump on it.

 

I too will not buy this beer since it is waaaay overpriced IMO. I will instead buy a 6-pack of Lord Chesterfield for 6-7 bucks.

Cheers!