December 3 - Sierra Nevada Celebration Fresh Hop Ale



Celebrate good times, come on! Let's celebrate!

Today's beer is from one of my favourite microbreweries, Sierra Nevada, their Celebration Fresh Hop Ale.

Appearance: Pours a clear caramel amber brown, lots of carbonation taking place here and a thick and very creamy beige foamy head.

Aroma: Fresh hops is first thing that comes to the nose, a nice woody pine aroma with some caramel maltiness and a bit floral.

Taste: Hops! Hops! Hops! Bitter piney hops that leave a bit of a bitter aftertaste on the palate, crisp, a bit of spruce, light touch of caramel and overall stellar.

Overall Thoughts: With a winter theme on the bottle and with a name like "Celebration", I expected this to be a cinnamon spiced amber ale rather than a fresh hopped pale ale, was a bit of a surprise when I got a wiff of the aroma. Nice aroma of pine & spruce from the hops, bitter pine taste that stays around on the palate long after the beer is gone. Sierra Nevada knows how to work the hops! I've only once ever had a truly "fresh hopped" ale in my life but this is as fresh as it's going to get for coming from California to Manitoba (via Vancouver) to me! 6.8% ABV, 65 IBU.

www.sierranevada.com/beer/seasonal/celebration-ale

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