#fridaytryday Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale

I have to apologize, things have been very busy around headquarters lately. Lots of beer tasting/brewing going on. Anyway, lets get on with it.

This weeks #fridaytryday beer was something special. I've had this beer in my cellar (by cellar, I mean the shelves in my basement where i keep my tools and random crap) for the better part of a year. My basement maintains a pretty steady temperature year round, low 70's high 60's depending on the season. I really should consider aging more beers... ANYWAY.

The story here is this: my wife loves seasonal beers ALMOST as much as me, one of her favorites happens to be Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale. That being said, this past April we were blessed with the arrival of our daughter Maggie. Which is just a beautiful thing. But, I'd be a liar if my wife wasn't just a little bit bummed when she wasn't able to enjoy her favorite seasonal brew last winter. So, being the awesome husband that I am, I grabbed a 12 pack last year and shelved it. intending not to drink any until the baby was born(only 6 made it this long but, thats pretty good right?).  On Friday night we decided it was time to crack them open.

On to the beer!!

Brewed by: Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

Beer: Celebration Ale

Style: American IPA

alcohol by volume: 6.8%

This brew is just a a fine example of an american IPA. Poured into and english style pint glass it revealed a great amber/orange color. Not much head after a semi vigorous pour. Decent lacing as I drank my way down.

The nose is good with notes of lemon, and flowers and of course hops. The flavor is a bit piny because if I'm correct this beer is hopped rather vigorously during the brewing process. But, any hop lover will tell you that there is just nothing wrong with that! A bit of a bitter kind of mouthfeel but, some of the best IPA's have a bit of a bitter characteristic as a result of the massive amounts of hops in the beer.

Over all despite of the strong mouthfeel of this beer, its a shining example of an American IPA. This brew has me waiting on it each year which is pretty impressive.

Ill be picking more of this up when the 2012 batch is released. Ill hold on to at least one bottle of the 2011 batch for a comparison. Until then, cheers!!