Day 87: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Name: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Brewer: Sierra Nevada - Chico, CA

Style: Pale Ale

Alcohol Content: 5.6%


Review: I'm already running short of new beers to drink. I went to my woman's birthday party and brought a new beer. These days I have to review most beers I can find, even if they are as prevalent as Sierra Nevada. In more interesting news, I wrote out an entire review of the Flying Dog Double Dog pale ale just now and completely forgot that I wrote one in January. It turned out that in my second review I upped the score from 3.5 to 4. Not to question my own measurement methods, but I just want to make people aware how much subjectivity can be involved in tasting beer. I do my best to ignore extraneous, confounding variables, but there are even days where a Dogfish 90 min or a Ten Fidy just don't hit the spot, even though they're amazing beers. As for Sierra Nevada, I don't want to spend much time talking about it, so I'll leave that to the always-clever and opinionated Brendan Kelly of the Lawrence Arms. He also plays a bartender at some semi-upper class bar in Chicago, and is two days younger than my sister (thanks wikipedia). Here's Brendan's take on Sierra Nevada:

"…those crappy beers that are just so popular with people who think they want something off the wall, but they’re really just garbage. Blue Moon, Stella, Sierra Nevada, I’m looking in your direction. These beers are the liquid equivalent of Taco Bell. They’re gross, they’re hugely popular and technically, they’re doing something that’s “outside the bun” but it still kind of sucks. If you’re drinking this beer, look around at your friends. If they’re all drinking this shit too, you’re a bunch of dorks. If you’re the only one, they talk about you when you go pee."

For more humor, you can read Brendan's blog - Bad Sandwich Chronicles

As for the actual beer: It's a classic pale ale: medium carbonation, slightly hoppy aroma, light hoppy flavor, and a semi dry finish. That's it. The white bread of ales. Not bad, but not great.

Rating: 2.5

Recommend? NO