Drinking It All: #10 Sierra Nevada 2009 Anniversary Ale
Drinking It All is a document of my attempt to try every beer in circulation. It's a Herculean and tragic attempt at best. But it's the means, not the end that counts here.
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that's a hoppin bitch
So I've been out of commision for some time now. And I've been saving some last-of-the-sixpack-beers for posts but have also been too lazy to post. The beers are still there, I'm still here, you are (I guess) still there, so let's talk about some fucking beer.
Specifically Sierra Nevada's 2009 Anniversary Ale. This beer's an IPA style, which I'm happy about, but they change the recipe every year. (Not having had any previous anniversary ales, or wanting to look it up, I can't tell you if they're all IPAs.) I doubt that you'd have much luck finding this beer on the shelves anymore, though you might, because I bought the sixpack probably 3 or 4 months ago. That's right, I've been saving this for that long. That's willpower to drive a truck. Big fuckin truck.
So the beer is an IPA, which, good little students know, tastes hoppy more so than malty. They've used Cascade hops for this beer. If you've had Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale, you should know Cascade hops well--they're the reason that that Pale Ale tastes somewhat like grapefruit. So this Anniversary Ale is not so much different than the Pale Ale, except for a more pronounced hop flavor.
Again, this is good. None of this is to say that the beer tastes like hop tea. It's definitely a balanced beer that just leans more towards hops than malt. It's easier to drink than other IPAs I've had are. By that I mean that someone who isn't necessarily into IPAs would be likely to pick this one up and not be surprised by such a strong hop (though they wouldn't call it hops, I imagine) aspect.
If I had the moneys, I'd drink this all the time. Although it is relatively cheap, but now probably out of stock. We (I) all look forward to next year.
Thumbs up or thumbs down? Up, but it's not like I can go buy it again now is it?
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Drinking It All: #4 Anchor Liberty Ale
Drinking It All is a document of my attempt to try every beer in circulation. It's a Herculean and tragic attempt at best. But it's the means, not the end that counts here.
--
gettin patriotic
I got the grading finished yesterday. Hot damn. We're packing up and going to New Orleans for a few days this afternoon. Double hot damn. Since I'm relatively free of work, or at least work I get paid for, I figured it was time to start drinking for the website. So I went out last night with about 10 dollars to get some good beer to post about. I was specifically looking for Red Seal Ale, but the store didn't have it. Instead I picked up some of Anchor's Liberty Ale.
The Liberty Ale, while it isn't called so, tastes like a solid pale ale. It starts off pretty bitter--more bitter than the PA standard, Sierra Nevada's PA--and it also has a noticeable sweetness from the malt. The label doesn't offer much helpful information other than indicating that the beer is dry hopped. I taste the hops a good deal more than I actually smell them, which I'm just fine with. I'll take them either way, or both.
Similar to Sierra Nevada's PA, Liberty Ale is a good introductory PA. The hoppyness is clearly the main event, but it's not so strong that it'd put off people who aren't nuts about hops. It's an accessible beer that doesn't aim for the lowest common denominator (i.e., Bud Light's ad campaign championing simply, and vaguely, "drinkability"). Liberty Ale's a drinkable beer for those who want more than just an alcohol-delivery medium. Plus, at under $8 a six-pack, it's a damn legal steal.
Thumbs up or thumbs down? Thumbs up. Now that I found a store that consistently keeps it in, I'll be bringing it home more often.
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Drinking It All: #2 Rogue Juniper Pale Ale
if Jesus had known about Christmas trees, and this beer, he would have said, "hey, these things are simliar--but what's it gotta do with me?"
Today I picked up a Rogue Juniper Pale Ale on my way home from getting some paint for a holiday home improvement project (see my wife's blog for details soon (shout-outs!)). I'm a fan of the other Rogue beers I've tried, specifically the Brutal Bitter and Dead Guy Ale, and I also have come to enjoy gin (which gets its pine flavor from juniper berries) in the last few years. So Rogue Pale Ale with juniper berries--where do I sign?
This pale ale tastes, at first, about like a standard pale ale. Then you taste a bit of the pine flavor from the juniper berries. It's not as strong as the Christmas tree flavor you get from gin, but it's noticable. This beer tastes clean, if that makes sense. The pine-ness fits in well with the typically crisp and flowery pale ale taste.
I'm not sure whether this is a Rogue seasonal beer or not, but, as my wife says about gin, it (gin, but I mean also the beer) tastes like Christmas. And in the end, don't we all want to taste our Christmas while we're worthless X-Box-playing automatons listening to the Beach Boys' Christmas record? Yes. Yes we do. Here's the beer for the job. You're welcome.
Thumbs up or thumbs down? Up. If you like PAs, such as Sierra Nevada's, I think you'll like it. Even if you don't, it's mild enough to appeal to a variety of picky beer drinkers (god help 'em).
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