I popped into an out of the way bottleshop and they had a single bottle of this for $11.99. I realize it has been discontinued, so was 2011 the last release of it? I've had the DevESTATEtion, which I did not like. I was looking at the recent reviews and they were raving about it and saying how fresh it was. I'm not gonna say an old IPA can't not be good in a malt bomb kind of way, but this would be going on 3 years for a 6.7% IPA; however, this is a fresh/wet hop IPA. Also, what do they do now instead of the Estate? I know they have stepped up their number of IPA releases (variety pack and the hop series going on now) and they have the North/South Hemisphere releases.
2012 was the last release. Will be back this year barring crop problems which stymied the 2013 iteration.
Sierra Nevada Estate is an organic home-grown WET hop ale, wet hop/fresh hop are slightly different, Wet means they are picked and shipped to the brewery and used right away while they are literally still moist and fresh. Fresh means they are picked right away when they are fresh and used, so very similar. Anyways to answer your question, if you see a SN Estate bottle then buy it, it's no longer brewed and I found one out of 3 last bottles at the total wine near here and it wasn't too bad at all. DevESTATEion is the younger/newer brother of ESTATE, a wet hop black ipa, organic and homegrown of course, and I thought it was quite good. Harvest Series: -Northern= Wet hops picked from the northern hemisphere (yakima, wa) and the hops are used within 48 hours (wet/fresh hop definition). Also a good beer. -Southern= Fresh hops from new zealand. Also a good beer. -New Harvest Series for 2014: -Single Hop IPA (Yakima 291)= An IPA using a single hop instead of lots, hop name is Yakima 291 and it gives off a very fresh, blueberry light flavor, this beer was released this February and is similar to an IPL and is VERY delicious. -2014 Southern & Northern Hemisphere IPA's, Southern released late April early May, Northern in late August. -Newly Developed Hop IPA= No info yet, released this July. -Wild Hop IPA= Basically using wild hops they find all over hillsides in new mexico. Released mid November. Hope that clears a lot of it up for you, basically SN's Estate/Harvest beers are excellent, fresh and unique. They are really quality IPAs and are worth trying every one. I do believe they are bottle only (no draft) and are 24oz bombers instead of 22oz, and they are priced quite well.
The recent reviews are most likely for a different beer and listed there in error since there was no Estate brewed in 2013 and the hops in the 2012 edition would have been a year old and not fresh any longer, given the dates of the reviews. "Fresh" on the label here does not describe the beer, regardless of when it was bottled or what you were told. it refers to the condition of the hops at the time the beer was brewed. So for 2011 the hops were picked and used directly from field to brewing at the end of the 2011 harvest when they were indeed fresh. That affects the flavor but not the aging of the beer, so the beer inside the bottle is no longer fresh and the hop flavors will have changed quite a bit. As already noted SN plan for a return of the Estate this year.
Uh, you left off the primary difference between SN's definitions of Wet/Fresh hops - "Fresh" are dried (the centuries old traditional method of preserving hops - done daily during harvest in kilns on/near the hop yard) and then used. See their explanation on their Celebration Ale webpage, which states in part (emphasis added):
2012 was the last Estate Homegrown Ale release. Due to a crummy malt harvest last year, we swapped Estate for DevESTATEtion, but most likely that was a one-time-only beer. We plan to release Estate Homegrown again this September. To answer your original question, though... the bottle you saw is most likely 2012 (it should have a date on the back to know for sure) but nevertheless, this beer is grossly out-of-code, so I can't in good conscience suggest that you buy it. Perhaps let the store owner know that it is WAY past its prime so that they can destroy it. If you BM me where you're at, I can see if one of our folks can come and grab it. -Bill
We do have draught of all of these beer, albeit limited. Typically released at a similar time as the bottle. We do a rotating limited draught program called Brewers Dozen which is 13 rotating draught beers each available in a specific month. Many of the expanded harvest series beer will be part of this program. -Bill
Was just about to chime in and mention that the Northern and Southern Hemisphere are definitely draft options, but it looks like that's been covered I use SN's Beer Finder to search for the Harvest beers, and simply sift through the results excluding all bottle shops. I'd recommend calling to double-check that it's a tap option because I have been to pubs/restaurants that serve bombers. And I'd recommend seeking them out when the time comes,. draft wet hopped ales are delicious.
