Thirty years ago I came kicking and screaming into this cold cruel world with bright eyes and a calm demeanor. My birth was not, however, the most notable thing to happen that year. Nor was the election of Ronald Reagan, champion of the upper upper class. No, the best thing to come out of 1980, by far, was the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, champion of the cascade hop. This year they celebrated their thirtieth anniversary with a series of beers; Three colaboration brews and one brewer's reserve. Seeing as how Sierra is my favorite brewing co I was super excited to get my hands on these limited releases. Finding them proved often to be more then difficult. Places where beer dudes (and dudettes I suppose) go to get good beer would sell out of them super fast. Oak Tree in South Plainfield didn't even put them out for sale. You had to ask the beer manager to get one out of back stock for you. The same was true for Joe Canal's in Woodbridge. I found that the best place to acquire these bonus wagners was off the beaten path. Places like Madison Wine Cellar would get a case in and not know exactly what they had on hand. I got a bunch of the first and fourth release from there. I found several of the third release at a big beer mart outside of Asbury. It was like finding that the baseball card where the dude is flipping the bird.
The beers come in handsome cork and caged bottles. If you had the hook up you could get them in a nice wood storage box. There was also a Thirtieth anniversary snifter that went along with the beers. They were released every few months over the course of this year. They all were pretty big beers that should age well. I bought several of each. I drank at least one of each fresh and aged the rest. Then, leading up to the one year anniversary of beer glasses I drank each beer in succession culminating in my first taste of the brewer's reserve grand cru. What follows is my impression, from what I can recall, of each beer. I was gonna post a pic of each pour, but you can check my twitter feed if you really want to see that.
Fritz & Kens Stout:The first release from back in March. This stout was a collaberative brew between Sierra founder Ken Grossman and (at the time) Anchor kingpin Fritz Maytag. FYI he is grandson of the appliance magnate and also he sold anchor shortly after the release of this beer. The beer is big as hell, super dark, and super delicious. Lots of roast and bitter sweetness. Nicely balanced. Really a quintessential American stout. It coats your palate quickly and basically becomes your night. Like, you can drink this while you are watching the Rangers game, but really you are watching the Rangers game while drinking the beer. Aging for nine months smoothed this beer out a bit. It was super creamy and thick like a bitter chocolate beer shake. Nice lacing and all that beer geek junk too. When I opened it after aging the bottom of the cork exploded. It was cool.
Charlie, Fred, & Ken's Bock:This beer was released in May. It is a collaborative brew from Ken and pioneer craft brew writers Fred Eckhart and Charlie Papazian. They brewed an Imperial Helles Bock. Basically a maibock that is big as hell(es). This thing is delicious. It is malty and toasty and amber as fuck. It is out of left field really, as Sierra is not really known for their lagers. They did this one beautifully. A new take on a classic style. Initially it was my least favorite of the four, but after tasting it recently I think I would put it at number two of the four. It's tough to rate these things because they are all awesome. The most interesting thing about this one is that it has some alcohol heat that comes through at the back of your palate, almost in your throat. It really is interesting and for me it really added to the whole experience.
Jack and Ken's Black Barlywine Ale:This is an interesting one. On this beer Ken Grossman teamed up with Jack McAuliffe. Jack started the New Albion Brewery in Sonoma Cali back in the day. It was a small operation that inspired many of the craft brew pioneers like Ken and Fritz. The beer they decided to brew for the anniversary is a black barleywine that is brewed with only American Cascade hops. It came out in July. This beer is seriously intense. I've had three so far and the first two times I had to ask for help in finishing it. It is big as hell. Very much a barleywine, but it has elements of stout and porter. Pretty much it is a barleywine with a ton of roast, some heat, lots of hop bitterness, sweet stout maltiness, but a medium syrup like body like a bw. It is a force to be reckoned with.
Brewer's Reserve Grand Cru:This one is the culmination of the series. It is a blend of oak aged bigfoot ale, celebration ale, and fresh pale ale that is dry hopped into some sort of celestial nectar that words can not really properly convey. It has the best elements of all three beers and then some. Malt and sweet from the barley wine is complimented by the citrusy cascade hoppiness of the pale ale, which is further grounded and balanced by the piney hoppiness of celebration. Bangin. get your hands on this one if you can. Definitely my favorite of the series. It is of note that I prefer it from the bottle rather then the tap. The same goes for Sierra pale ale. I'm not sure if they bottle conditioned this like they do with the pale. Weird how Sierra is like that. Mostly I prefer tap, but Sierra does a real good job with bottle conditioning.
Hope you enjoyed my run down of this series. I still have a random assortment of these bad boy's left. Hit me up if you wanna do some drinking. They are good for one, but are best shared. Cheers.
