Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale Review

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

Central Waters Satin Solstice Review

Name: Central Waters Satin Solstice/Solitude

Style: Imperial Stout

ABV: 7.5%

I find myself in a bit of an awkward position with this review. In a previous review, I mentioned that Central Waters Brewing was responsible for one of the first Imperial Stouts that I had ever had and that I would do a review on it.

Well the good news is that I found Satin Solstice to review! The Bad News? It's no longer called Satin Solstice but Satin Solitude. Oh did I also mention it now looks like this?

Much like Summit Brewing, they underwent a label/branding redesign overhaul on all of their products. So this means that this beer has been sitting around for quite a while and probably a left over from last winter. Being the brave adventurer I am and (possibly) against my better judgment, I have decided to review this anyways. Fingers crossed that it aged well!

Satin pours a pitch black color with a high amount of carbonation along the sides of the glass. The head is fluffly-later-filmy brown in appearance with some good lacing.

The aroma starts it off with some chocolate, coffee, & cocoa notes with some nice vanilla bean, roasted barley and faint hops to back it up. So far it's looking pretty good!

Starting off the flavor are some fairly strong chocolate, coffee, roasted barley, and a slight oakiness. The aftertaste is a bittersweet chocolate finish.

Bodywise, it's pretty moderate in terms of weight but the carbonation packs quite a punch when you consider the style.

Well this was a pleasant surprise, not only did it still taste good but I get the feeling that it's been allowed to age somewhat and it ended up tasting better than what I remember it! Permitting it's not anywhere near as robust like Dragon's Milk but it's still a tasty beer that is definitely worth checking out!

Central Waters Satin Solstice - 8.5/10

Bell's Best Brown Review

Yes, my second to last winter seasonal review for the year (you'll see the other one later this week) because despite the winter storm we had last week, Old Man Winter doesn't know when to call it quits. If you're a resident of the Midwest or Rockies, then you understand my pain. If you so happen to be reading this while in a warm climate, consider yourselves lucky that you aren't living in this proverbial Siberia.

Yesterday I did a review of Bell's Two Hearted, and today I've decided to keep it up with Bell's Best Brown Ale. I actually picked this up as part of a Mix-A-Six and was only $1.17; Hey I like my beer but I also like cheap beer! The expiration date on this was the end of next month so I wasn't gonna let it go to waste!

It pours a Dark Red Color with a off-white colored head and some sparse lacing along the side of the glass. The smell has some mild caramel, floral hops, roasted malt and chocolate scents. The flavor is also fairly mild with caramel, rum raisin, chocolate and roasted malt notes. The body is fairly thick and yet lighter at the same time whereas the carbonation is fairly mild and subdued.

The Rum Raisin flavor is the only thing that really jumped out at me with this beer but that really isn't saying too much as the flavor in general is mild and not living up to it's full potential. It's by no means a bad beer, but it's mild flavor leaves something more to be desired

Bell's Best Brown - 7/10