Sierra Nevada Pale Ale - Sierra Nevada Brewing Company

Vitals:

Name: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Style: American Pale Ale

IBU: 37

ABV: 5.6%

Gravity: 13 deg. Plato

Purchased at: Trixie's Liquor

Descriptions:

Appearance: Pours a translucent amber color with virtually no carbonation bubbles. You get about a finger of foamy white head, which has decent retention and a thin cap. What really strikes me about this beer is the lacing is AMAZING...looks delicious.

Smell: You get slightly more of a malty smell here than a lot of hoppier APAs I've had recently (e.g. Hopalicious). Piney and citrus hops with some orange peel thrown in there as well. You get some lemon smell in there, but not much. This is just a damn good smelling beer.

Taste: Pretty much perfectly balanced. You get citrus flavor and hops up front and then a bitter, piney hop finish. The malts back the beer steadily the whole way through. I can truly say that this is a very rare find...a macro-brew quantity/distribution with close to a craft beer taste. This definitely beats a lot of sub-par-to-mediocre craft APAs I've had, but I still would stick with something like a Hopalicious for my money.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with very light carbonation. This beer is actually very drinkable and doesn't have much astringency to it that some pale ales give you. Overall a pleasant drinkability/mouthfeel experience.

Overall Grade: B+

Comments: This is a very solid beer that I'd pick over plenty of others. I truly do mean what I said about having a pretty solid craft brew taste but having the advantage of being a huge scale macro brew that you can get most anywhere. If you're looking to try out pale ales to see if you'll like the style I would suggest that you absolutely start here!

Cheers,

Hurls