Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Across the World 2017
The popular Chino, California brewery, Sierra Nevada, has been releasing collaboration 12-packs the last few years called Beer Camp. They get together with other popular and upcoming breweries and collaborate on unique, one-time beer releases. This year they put a little spin on it, doing six collaborations with Stateside breweries and six collaborations with breweries from around the world. In the past, I have been underwhelmed with the Beer Camp releases, they weren’t bad by any means but they didn’t really stick out as anything really special, however this year they have finally really decided to work toward the strengths of the breweries they are collaborating with and the results are distinct and impressive. This post will review all 12 worldwide collaborations, giving you, the reader, a sneak peek into the box before you buy.
First up, a collaboration with Tree House Brewing Company, East Meets West IPA. This beer is meant to be a representation of Sierra Nevada’s iconic West Coast-style IPA alongside Tree House’s New England-style IPA, known for its low bitterness, juicy flavor profile and hazy appearance. One of the first things I noticed about this one is the insane amount of carbonation and effervescence. You can definitely pick up the distinct West Coast-style bitterness and piney resinous but it is accompanied by notes of fresh clementine (both the fruit and the peel), mellow pineapple, bright lemon and light caramel maltiness. There's none of the telltale haze from the typical NEIPA and the body is lighter but it still has that soft characteristic and the juicy pop. It is definitely more West Coast than New England but this is the closest thing Arizona is going to see to having Tree House Brewing in distribution anytime soon so we'll have to accept it.
Next up, their Beer Camp collaboration with The Bruery from Placentia, California. This one is brewed with lactose, raspberry, cocoa and vanilla and is fittingly named Raspberry Sundae. As expected, it is definitely sweet, but not overbearing, which I was worried about. There's a big hit of raspberry jam up front with a very mellow thread of vanilla running throughout followed by a lingering punch of milk chocolate. It has a nice, creamy mouthfeel and actually finishes pretty clean. I assumed it would be a sugar bomb with a lingering sweetness but they proved me wrong. This beer is a perfect example of them brewing to the strength of their collaborating partners as The Bruery is known for fruited sours and adjunct heavy beers. I could drink more of this one.
I decided to follow up the sweetness of Raspberry Sundae with their Ginger Lager, brewed in association with Minnesota's Surly Brewing. This one sounds particularly interesting as I am a fan of ginger but there is a fine line between delicious and way too much. They brewed this lager with ginger and cayenne and fermented it on oak, which I'm hoping will provide a really unique flavor profile. Bold, spicy ginger presents up front with a healthy kick of cayenne spice on the back end. The two distinct spicy flavors really work well together providing a spark on the palate and a slow burn in the gut. This collaboration finishes incredibly dry, which is a delectable follow up to the mouthwatering ginger up front. Light, crisp, flavorful, effervescent and dry. So far they're three for three this year in my book.
After a couple of funky twists and adjunct focused beers I decided to go for a more classic brew. Working with Boneyard Beer, Sierra Nevada brewed up this classic West Coast-style DIPA. A classic example of a crisp, clean, golden double IPA, there are notes of fresh pine and juicy grapefruit mingling with herbal hop flavors and a robust, mildly boozy backbone. The flavors are bright and fresh and the finish is dry with a nice, lingering bitterness. Not a lot to say here, this brew is just a really well-done example of a West Coast-style double from two breweries that have a lot of experience with the style.
I just realized that I have yet to crack into any of the overseas collabs so I figured I could start with a simple, classic brew, Dunkel Weisse from Ayinger, a classic brewery that has been cranking out delicious German beers for over 130 years. This one is pretty straight forward, dunkel weisse means dark wheat, so you pretty much know what to expect. It's a Bavarian-style dark wheat beer was created using traditional open fermentation to assist in highlighting Ayinger's famous Hefeweizen yeast. Banana and wheat malt characteristics dominate this brew with bread crust flavors and a low sweetness and long, dry finish. An absolutely perfect example of a traditional German-style beer, this is full flavored and refreshing. Killed it.
Garage Project is a small brewery from New Zealand that opened with a 50 liter brewkit back in 2011 (that's the equivalent of roughly 13 gallons). Their business model is to create unique and experimental beers. For this year's Beer Camp project they joined with Sierra Nevada to brew Campout Porter, brewed with malt smoked on Manuka wood (a tree native to New Zealand) and Mankua honey as well as beechwood honey from California and Tahitian vanilla beans. Creamy and dark, this beer is exactly as advertised, maybe even better than I expected. Roasted malt, mellow smoke, creamy, light honey sweetness with just the slightest hint of vanilla in the background. It's like a smokey, toasty marshmallow drizzled in honey. The best “smore” beer I've ever had and maybe my favorite from the 12-pack thus far.
Denmark's premier gypsy brewer, Mikkeller, is known for his eclectic style and crazy ass recipes. Thai-style Iced Tea is a drink popular in Southeast Asia typically made from strongly brewed Ceylon tea, condensed milk, sugar, orange blossom water, star anise, crushed tamarind seed and other spices. To try to recreate the classic flavor of this drink Mikkeller and Sierra Nevada brewed a spiced amber ale with black tea, sweet orange peel, tamarind and star anise with lactose added in place of the condensed milk. The bottle pours with a golden amber hue and a nice level of carbonation that maintains a consistent half inch of white, foamy head. The anise really comes through strong backed up by strong, dark tea and sweet citrus with a medium body and a crisp bite. I haven't ever had Thai Iced Tea but I'd imagine this is pretty close. It's very refreshing and would make a delicious summer beer. This isn't my favorite of the box so far but I'm really enjoying it, I think the only thing I'd change is to lessen the amount of star anise.
Duvel Moortgat Brewery is a Flemish family-controlled brewery founded in 1871 that currently produces approximately 1,200,000 barrels of beer per year. They're a large European brand that owns a few smaller brands including Ommegang, De Koninck, d'Achouffe, Boulevard and Firestone Walker. For this collaboration, they brewed a Hoppy Belgian-style Golden Ale, which is a variation of the style they are already known for but hopped up and brewed with lemon peel. This brew is full of sweet, estery yeast flavors, a slight booze kick, bitter lemon and sweet citrus finishing with a sharp, dry bitterness. A tasty classic with a welcome twist.
Next up is Kiuchi Brewery from Japan. This collaboration is a White IPA with Yuzu. Yuzu is an Asian citrus fruit and the beer was also brewed with nutmeg and coriander. Up front is a ton of bright lemon and tangerine peel followed by spicy coriander and a dry, piney hop profile. There's a thread of sweetness on the back end but the beer finishes fairly dry. Another light, crisp summer style beer in the 12-pack and another delicious addition to the Beer Camp series.
I'm coming up on the home stretch here with Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp Across the World 2017 limited edition 12-pack. My next brew is a collaboration with Saint Arnold Brewing from Texas, known for crafting everything from traditional German-style recipes, like this one, to big experiemental styles. For this collabrew they decided to put together a Dry-Hopped Berliner-style Weisse. There is a citrusy, fruity hop profile that is backed by a crisp, mellow tartness with a lemony wheat base. Pretty classic berliner with a mildy hoppy, fruit forward hop twist, very clean and refreshing.
Avery Brewing, from Boulder, Colorado, is partially known for their barrel program and their big beers, like Mephistopheles Stout, Tweak and The Beast. When collaborating with Sierra Nevada they decided to head down this road by brewing this Dry-Hopped Barleywine-style Ale. Despite the name, which comes from the fact that the alcohol level is usually high, like wine, barleywine is definitely beer. They are typically 8-16% ABV and, depending on the style, American or English, can vary in hoppiness and bitterness. English barleywines are more malt forward and less bitter, with little to no hop flavor, closer to Old Ales than anything else. American barleywines, just like any other Americanized styles of beer, are super hopped up and really taste much more related to double IPAs, just with a much more powerful malt bill. Both of these breweries make a popular American-style barleywine already so it is no surprise they decided to go that direction. Sierra Nevada releases their yearly Bigfoot Barleywine and Avery has their Hog Heaven, which was recently rebranded as an Imperial Red IPA, as “IPA” will always outsell “barleywine”.
This one follows much of the barleywine blueprint to a t. Incredibly rich and malt forward with bittersweet caramel and toffee malt characteristics accompanied by a piney, floral hop twist. Typically an American-style barleywine is going to have a very piney, resinous hop profile, which is present here, but it is joined by a somewhat light, floral, lingering hoppiness sprinkled over the top. This was probably the one I looked forward to the least, as I'm not particularly a barleywine fan, but it is surprisingly tasty though it may be my least favorite of the set.
Well, this has been a fun journey across the US and the world with Sierra Nevada Brewing and its time to wrap up this entry with the final review of my favorite beer from this box, Fuller's Brewery Atlantic-style Vintage Ale, an English-style old ale brewed with plums. It isn't the most unique or the most standout beer in the box, but it is an outstandingly brewed, solid, classic brew and it really hits what this collaboration was all about. Fuller's is known for their series Vintage Ale, which has been released with a new recipe every year since 1997. The releases that I have had are always very malt forward, rich, deeply complex beers and they are intended for aging, which usually means sparing use of hops, which fall off of the flavor profile very quickly. This is another robust entry in the series, heavy caramel malts and dark fruit (plums and raisins) back up a yeast-driven aroma and flavor. There is a deep, fruity richness that just coats the throat and creates a heavy, hot, deep feeling upon the swallow. This beer is straightforward and simple but with a subtle complexity and richness that allows you to savor each sip.
The Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Across the World 2017 12-pack is a resounding success in my book. The beers range from classic standby ales to experimental “everything but the kitchen sink” style modern brews and there is a little something here for every fan of craft beer. I think this is far and away the best Beer Camp pack that has ever been released and, if they are still available in your area, I'd recommend checking it out. Not one of the twelve beers was an all out disappointment and, coming in at about $2 per bottle/can, it's actually one of the better deals you can find in craft beer currently. Try them for yourselves and decide, maybe I'm insane. See you next time, same craft time, same craft channel.