Sierra Nevada Celebration 2019

Guess I need to make a trip to DE to grab a few 12 packs.

Enjoy

 

That's all tongue-in-cheek friend. Started a long time ago when some folks were convinced Celebration had spices in its recipe -- which it never has.

 

Those wondering, it came out about a week later this year due to the fresh hops we selected being picked later.

It had nothing to due with cinnamon/nutmeg harvest window.

My favorite time of year, Celebration on tap in the pub everyday.

 

No spices in that beer.

 

Ah, see I but I did think it was spiced a bit, a very little bit. I thought they used s bit of spice hence the season vs a regular ipa.

 

Nope. No spice other than hops -- the spice of beer.

 

Amazing what hops can do and how individual hop flavors can vary.

 

Cant believe this joke has gone on so long, and so sarcastically that it’s create false rumors.

 

As well as the recipe changes each year.

A super solid IPA year after year after year.

Enjoy

 

All the spice talk remind me of how pleasantly surprised I was the first time I had celebration as a young drinker. It was the only thing a buddy has in the fridge and he just told me "it's Sierra Nevada's Christmas beer, but it's really good". I was ready for a tolerable spiced thing and instead discovered one of my very favorite beers of the year

 

@SierraTerence, how much does the recipe change every year? I've heard that it does but it always seems pretty consistent to me and I just assumed there are slight adjustments made based on the hops for that year so that it keeps that relative consistency.

 

I was looking at their website and realized a couple interesting things:

Northern Hemisphere has the same malts as Celebration and has 2 of the 3 hops in Celebration (Cascade, Centennial, but no Chinook). And has almost the same abv and ibu. Yet they dont taste THAT simular to me.

Celebration and Bigfoot have the exact same malts and hops but Bigfoot just has a much higher abv and somewhat higher ibu. Might be why some people say that if you age a Celebration it turns into a mini Bigfoot.

 

When I see them I'll try a side by side but it's worth noting that Northern hemisphere is a 'wet hop' brew while celebration just uses fresh dried hops. So maybe that's a nice window into the flavors those hops lose in the drying process

 

Looked for it at my store today after seeing SA Winter Lager post on Twitter. No luck. Hopefully next time. Celebration will be in my fridge for next two months. Easily my favorite.

 

But I get more and different flavors from Celebration. I like Northern Hemisphere quite a bit, but Celebration would be in the running for my desert island beer.

 

Oh I didn't mean to imply that wet hop beer was better, it's just different. Some of the flavors some hops lose are potentially undesirable. Just meant that it's a cool chance to see the differences. I'd definitely take celebration over any wet hop beer I've ever had (and I'm probably more excited about wet hops than necessary)

 

You're correct, very slight adjustments for BU, color, OG, AE, & ABV.

 

Awesome you guys are the best, unfortunately I was just informed by two stores near me that there won't be any Celebration until after this latest power outage is over. Fortunately I will get to celebrate the end of this power outage with some Celebration

 

Getting a case might be tricky this year as I'm aging and storing beer in last years case. I need a dedicated beer fridge. Maybe 4 six packs or 2 twelve packs might be better this year.

 

This is the content I crave. I laughed so hard even though I expected it... thank you!