REVIEW: Sierra Nevada Celebration

If the Anchor Christmas ale is the original Christmas beer, today's isn't far behind. Sierra Nevada first brewed Celebration in 1981. Also making it special is the fact that this beer is a wet-hopped IPA, certainly unique for a Christmas beer. I know I'm intrigued. To the beer!

REVIEW: Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest

Seeing as this Thursday is Thanksgiving I felt it was an appropriate time to take a look at this beer. What with Thanksgiving, the harvest, cornucopias, and all that. I took a look at the companion to this beer, the Southern Hemisphere Harvest, back in June. The hops in the Northern Hemisphere Harvest have a much shorter journey than those in the Southern Hemisphere version, and as such, they arrive much fresher. In the Southern Hemisphere Harvest the hops come all the way from New Zealand. In this one, the hops are picked in the Yakima Valley and are into the brew kettle in Chico, within 24 hours of coming off the vine. Today's beer was actually the first American beer brewed using 100% wet hops. So, in the spirit of the season, lets take a look at a fresh hop IPA, shall we? To the beer!

REVIEW: Sixpoint Autumnation

The two prominent trends for fall seasonals are rich, spicy pumpkin ales and fresh, hoppy wet hopped ales. It seems that the mad scientists at Sixpoint couldn't be bothered to choose between the two. Autumnation is brewed with pumpkin, ginger, and has been wet hopped with fresh Citra. Now I love pumpkin ales and I love fresh hop flavors so this could be something special. To the beer!

REVIEW: Southern Tier Harvest

When folks hear fall seasonal and Southern Tier this is probably not the beer that they're thinking of. We'll get to that one. All in due time, it's coming. But not quite yet, today I'm taking a look at Harvest.  Harvest is an ESB (Extra Special Bitter) brewed with fresh hops. It's cool to see an autumn seasonal that isn't a pumpkin or an Oktoberfest. Not that I don't dig on those styles, I certainly do, but it's cool to see some other styles as well. To the beer!