Sierra Nevada is stealing the show

While I enjoy many of their products, I find it silly to say they are blowing the competition away. They make good IPAs, SNPA is a solid flagship, and Kellerweiss is a solid beer. However, I can get many IPAs I prefer to theirs, at least a few pale ales, and more than a few wheats as well. Their Ovila series has been a great disappointment to me (in my area, they cost more than La Trappe, Chimay, or Westmalle while lacking the quality in that all of those provide) What they lack, in my opinion, are world class stouts/porter or bocks. Truth is, during the winter months, I pretty much stop drinking any of their products (other than Bigfoot which I do love). Are they a good brewery that I support, am glad to have available anywhere I go, and feel comfotable suggesting to people to try? Yes. Are they blowing New Belgium, Sam Adams, Bell's, Goose Island, Boulevard, North Coast, Founders, or a number of other craft breweries out of the water? Absolutely not. Are they making sure those others stay on their game? Sure.

 

I totally agree with the OP. Sierra Nevada is the brewery that I feel like all craft breweries would be better off emulating. What in the world is wrong with producing tasty, high qualty, affordable & widely available beer?

 

Close minded is assuming that all craft drinkers are drinking beer for the same reasons and prefer to drink the top rated beer geek beers of the day.

 

I have been a big SN fan for quite a few years - and its still my favorite brewery, but I have also taken the rose colored glasses off and looked at recent trends and the multitude of directions this brewery has taken in recent years. What I really loved about SN is that they had a niche of styles that they would concentrate on and did them all well with amazingly consistent quality and did it efficiently enough to offer real value to the everyday craft beer drinker. But some recent changes don't sit well with me. The last two seasonal replacements seems like an attempt to play it safe with entry level crafts that weren't all that exciting - with Ruthless rye marketing outpacing the excitement of the actual beer. I wonder if those in charge of marketing/sales at SN had the same thoughts when Celebration was developed - or did they just create the beer they wanted to drink, and let the chips fall as they may ? - recently it seems as if the beer is secondary to its market position. The ovila thing for the most part seems to be met with apathy all around due to middle of the road attempts at belgian styles. And the bbl. aging, big dollar, big bottle formats and collaboration attempts to get the uber geeks excited about SN products just seems as a distraction to me from their core products (which also need some updating imo - ie. Stout, porter) and more importantly, core repeat customers. As a long time beer geek, I feel there is alot of attention paid to the extreme ends of the craft consumer population with pandering to the crossovers and to the uber geek, and that the experienced, middle pack who is looking for new flagship types with personality and drinkability is getting lost in the middle. I always though of SN as a brewery that didn't need to pander to the newbs or the geeks because they did what they did so well that their reputation outweighed their hype, but recently that seemed to have changed.

 

+100000000000

Well said ,worthy of a medal.

 

I also really enjoyed the ovila saison. I hope they run the ovila collaborations again. I'm afraid they didn't sell very well because they didn't have much showing that it was from sierra nevada on the labeling.

 

completely agree with the OP. celebration is one of the two best single ipas in the world IMO. bigfoot is just as good as any barleywine ive had, and costs $15 per 6 my area (which scales to $5 bomber, who can beat that price for the quality and consistency). and ive never had a bad beer from this brewery.

more examples (other brewerys) the williamsburg $6 bourbon barrel porter is very complex and flavorful as is the $11.50 per 4 pak central waters bourbon barrel stout. why would i need to spend $25-30 dollars on say fifty-fifty eclipse? overspending for beer for whatever reasons is just not something i do (often). the $20 i spent on bitter monk was a one time thing, i wanted a beer from alaska and im never gonna go there. so was the $22 bruery cuir, it was great, but not any better than $4 hotd adam (scaled to $8 bomber).

 

I miss Glissade. Ruthless Rye was not a good replacement.

 

I love Sierra Nevada beers, great beers along with great prices!

 

I can buy a well-crafted, nicely flavored 12-pack for almost what it would cost me to buy 4 cans of a local brewery. I guess my local bias only goes so far...

SN is an awesome brewery. Since Widmer O'Ryely went away, Ruthless IPA is the only 12-pack I buy.

 

Never really gave this much thought until right now... Just finished a bottle Hoptimum, which is really just a fantastic double IPA. I also absolutely love their Celebration and Ruthless Rye. Now, on to the Barely Wine category and it really hard to beat their Big Foot. These few beers, along with the quality of their regular offerings (i.e, Pale Ale, stout, porter, etc), they are really hard to beat. I find it hard to think of another brewery that is this strong across all categories.

 

Sierra Nevada is good stuff, but i was let down by Ruthless Rye. I still cant believe that is an "IPA".

 

I agree with the OP and think the statements are well taken. SN puts out one of the most consistently decent beer lineups out there IMO. Mostly hits and very few misses.

 

I was just thinking the same thing this morning. Sierra is spot on with style, consistency and price and I feel like they are super consistent with their seasonal releases in terms of timing (drinking a Bigfoot right now). I'm psyched to see them mover over to cans as well. Personally, I'm getting a little worn down trying to get a hold of the "latest big thing." I'm just happy I can pick-up anything form SN and be happy. My go to brewers right now are SN, Smuttynose and Narragansett.

 

I must say, I absolutely love stocking up on SN when I head stateside for the weekend. It's much more consistent and tasty than most Ontario craft, and is priced on par with discount macro beer in our province

 

I picked up a 12 of Torpedo last week at a Publix for $13. It was bottled on Feb 2nd. For a balance of quality, price, and freshness, how can one beat that? I'll answer my own question. With Celebration in November, and Ruthless in February. I loves my Stone, Smutty, Ballast, and Bells, but SN is usually a sure score.

 

You can get Celebration Ale for like $12 for a 12-pack. There are definite positives to being one of the bigger breweries. They haven't watered down any of their beers or produces beers that are more mass-market-friendly. I dig Sierra Nevada. Are they stealing the show? No, but they are doing a good job of hanging with the cool-kid breweries.

 

Life & Limb II is one of the better beers I've ever had. Never had the first one.

 

And me. My fridge is filled with Torpedo, Ruthless Rye, Hoptimum, and the phenomenal seasonals Norhern and Sou Hemi's and estate. Not too mention the collabs like Fritz and Ken. May be the best Nationally distributed craft brewer.

 

Stone? Deschutes? Great Divide? Bear Republic? Victory? Sam Adams? Maybe not the wide distribution but there are lots of other breweries with great lines.