Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (Sierra Nevada Pale Ale)

Member Name: RocketFuel

Product:	Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Date:	07/05/09 (124 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Taste, Quality, Aroma

Disadvantages: Price for a small bottle, but you do get what you pay for

This is a very tasty, somewhat hoppy pale ale from the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in the USA. It is the most popular beer produced by the brewery.

I bought a couple of bottles from my local Morrisons as they seem to have a nice selection of different beers there that aren't available elsewhere. I paid about £1.50 each for a couple of small 350ml stubby bottles. It is 5.6% Alc.

There is a thin layer of sediment in the bottle due to the beer being bottle conditioned. This sediment is actually live yeast, so you could use it for home brewing if you wanted, I do. But otherwise you can just swirl this into the beer before pouring and it adds to the flavour. But that's personal taste.

Upon pouring a glass it is a clear, golden-amber colour. It also has a nice slightly off-white head. Which leaves a light lacing around the glass as the beer disappears. Give the beer a smell and some spicy, and slightly citrusy hop aroma is evident. The flavour is also quite citrusy and spicy and has a slightly bitter aftertaste. I believe that this is due to the generous levels of Cascade finishing hops. I think the beer actually tastes more hoppy than malty.
If you like this style of beer I have personally found Coopers Pale Ale to be a nicer beer. I think I prefer the slightly more fruity, citrusy aroma and easy drinking taste that the Coopers has. But I would still recommend that you give this a try as it is a lovely drink.

If you usually just drink regular commercial light lagers like Fosters etc you may not like this style. But if you would like more flavour and aroma then give it a go. It's not that much different, just better quality than regular stuff.

I also post on CIAO under Ballisticspin.
I have also recently set up a homebrew advice website at: http://hombrew.webs.com/

Summary: Very nice pale ale but I prefer Coopers Pale Ale