Name: Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 6.8%
Every winter, Sierra Nevada Brewing likes to get in the holiday spirit by releasing Celebration Ale, their winter seasonal IPA. As you can see in the picture above, it depicts a cottage covered by snow, which is ironic considering that the brewery's location does not get any snow at all.
As I mentioned in my previous review, not every winter release is necessarily a darker/heavier beer and this certainly isn't a darker beer by any means. In fact, it's one of the most highly anticipated widespread winter releases I have ever seen around here.
Celebration Ale pours a hazy orange-brown color with a fairly thin foamy head. The lacing left behind is quite good and the carbonation takes on more of a mild appearance.
The nose starts out as fairly caramel malt forward followed up with some hefe-clove notes, citrus & piney hops and a slight yeastiness.
Likewise, the flavor is also fairly malty with stronger hefe-cloves, spiciness, citrus hops, and yeasts with a bittersweet piney-resin aftertaste. Highly unusual to see cloves in an IPA, but it works pretty well.
The body is pretty light and the carbonation comes off as more moderate than what it's mild appearance lets you believe.
Some beer drinkers may not like the cloviness in this beer, but I feel it helps give a wintery feel to the IPA style without making it too different. Overall I found this to be a very enjoyable IPA and worth checking out if you're in need of a good seasonal IPA.
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale - 8.5/10
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