Last week we told you about SIERRA NEVADA SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE HARVEST ALE, and gosh darn it, we were so hopped up about that one we done went & purchase a mixed sixer of the brewery’s other two new ones as well! I needed something safe enough to take camping and serve to people not as wild about weirdo beers as I am, and yet also something that I wanted to try & savor myself. I hit upon getting three each of the SIERRA NEVADA TORPEDO EXTRA IPA and the brand-new SIERRA NEVADA KELLERWEIS, and yes, both are excellent camping beers, as one can quaff it straight from the bottle without feeling like you’re doing the beer any real disservice. Put it this way – since the other folks were drinking Coors Light or something else ungodly anyway, I got to almost have this entire six-pack to myself. I got the gist of both beers in no time.SIERRA NEVADA TORPEDO EXTRA IPA was the winner by a country mile. Everything you’ve read about this IPA is true. It’s a bold, clean, very hoppy, piney and dry IPA that is both thirst-quenching and a real beer dork’s treat to boot. In a world full of excellent IPAs, this one is a cut above. It tastes of pine needles, grapefruit and general dryness, if dryness could be said to have a taste. Yes, it’s an “extra” IPA. That’s almost an imperial IPA, just not quite, right? Well hot damn, I loved this one. 8.5/10.
I can’t say the KELLERWEIS was a disappointment, but comparatively, I guess it kinda was. It’s a banana-dominated hefeweizen, definitely done in the olde-school German sense of the word. It’s a sweet beer, maybe a little cloying and not quite as refreshing as it might have been. I don’t know, I didn’t like it at first, but the second one was better than the first, and the third was better than the second. Funny how that works. It includes a rare Bavarian wheat strain, almost never used in the US. I guess that’s kinda cool. But let’s be honest here – this is a 6.5/10, tops.
A big high-five to SIERRA NEVADA in any case. It’s nice to see them bringing some new high-quality beers to the people.
A big high-five to SIERRA NEVADA in any case. It’s nice to see them bringing some new high-quality beers to the people.
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2 comments:
Wow. I can't get the Torpedo around here in the Northeast any more. I love it, and I'm somewhat envious of your access to perhaps the best IPA on the market right now.
I agree. I've had the Torpedo a number of times -- I'm lucky enough that the liqour store down the street from me (in Chicago) has stocked it for the past month or two. Always have it out of the bottle. Lots of character to this IPA.
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