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Sierra Nevada "Beer Camp" Tropical IPA - a 6.7% ABV IPA Using Citrusy Hops


TedE

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Sierra Nevada was a foundational brewery in the American craft beer revolution.  They now operate a bi-coastal brewing operation (as do "micro" favorites Stone and Green Flash), have nationwide distribution and are readily available at your local chain grocery for a reasonable price. It seems that Safeway has 12-packs for around $15 on sale most every week.  They are the #2 craft brewer in the U.S. behind Sam Adams and the #6 overall (by barrels produced).  All of which to say that they should be in the sneering cross hairs or any self-respecting (or self-loathing?) beer snob.

But that is stupid because they still produce what may be the best American Pale Ale (mild IPA, really) in the country. Brewer after brewer would tell you that "S.N.P.A." is still the reference point for the style.  Torpedo is S.N.P.A kicked up to a full blown IPA.  Celebration is a consistently good fall harvest ale that shows interesting variation year-to-year (although I don't know why they package it the way they do; given the release time frame around Thanksgiving I wonder how many people pick this up thinking it's a traditional dark and spiced up Christmas beer?).

I picked up their latest Beer Camp release last week.  Beer Camp is Sierra Nevada's grass roots brewing initiative in which they give home brewers a shot at creating beer on an industrial scale (reading through the marketing, I suspect that some of these "amateurs" are a little more experienced than they let on).  Out of 52 beers produced every year they pick one to produce and mass market to the country as a Spring seasonal (that shows up in early January, naturally).  This year it is a Tropical IPA, so named not because of the addition of exotic fruits to the mash, but the product of some newer strains of hops that have become very popular recently (Citra, Mosaic and El Dorado primarily).  They tend to produce marked "sweet" floral profiles as a contrast to the resiny "piney" hops that dominated the IPA hop wars of the past 10-15 years.  The usual grapefruit aromas are apparent, but with that a more pronounced mango/sweet melon. The result is similar to what brewers started doing with Belgian yeast strains in IPAs a few years ago, and it is cool to see them mimicking the effect using a totally different base component of the beer.  What I liked most about Tropical IPA is that it showcases these hops' characteristics without making you commit to a bruiser of an IIPA like Solar Abyss (although at 6.7% abv it's not exactly a lightweight).  There are already dozens and dozens of Citra IPAs and IIPAs on the market, but when taking into account availability and approachability I think Tropical IPA is one of the best out there.

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Agreed on the SN Tropical IPA.  I bought and enjoyed a 6-pack recently.  Bought it at a 7-Eleven near my office, and believe it or not, when I went back a couple of days later, it was not on the shelf.  Possibly they received a case in error. (I couldn't believe that anyone else would buy this at this particular 7-11).  Norm's Beer and Wine in Vienna now has it on their (relatively) new set of taps for growler fills, and I am going tomorrow to get a half-growler's worth.

If you don't run across the SN Tropical IPA, as suggested, there are others that are good. I also like the Green Flash Soul Style tropical IPA, in particular.

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It should also be noted that SN only uses whole cone hops and bottle conditions their beer (no forced carbonation).  

It should also be noted that Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA is probably the best beer I've ever tasted in my life. There are some who deprecate hoppy beers, and I agree that some of the hop-bombs out there are one-dimensional and depressing, but Torpedo has a beautiful balance of malt and hop character, a wonderful, full mouth-feel,  a magnificent, persistent head, and a nose and a finish that just sing to me. There is no beer I'd rather drink.

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It should also be noted that Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA is probably the best beer I've ever tasted in my life. There are some who deprecate hoppy beers, and I agree that some of the hop-bombs out there are one-dimensional and depressing, but Torpedo has a beautiful balance of malt and hop character, a wonderful, full mouth-feel,  a magnificent, persistent head, and a nose and a finish that just sing to me. There is no beer I'd rather drink.

I can't say it's my favorite IPA full stop, but I will say it is by far the best IPA you can get for $7.50/six-pack in this city.

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Can you share with the rest of us where you can get Torpedo for $7.50 per six pack?

The Safeway I go to (5th/K NW) has Sierra Nevada products for $14.99/12-pack right now, but I'm pretty sure that is the price for Safeways across the city (this is the price if you have a Safeway card, mind you, else it's $20 I think).  Six-packs of the same beers are $10, but why would you?! They almost ALWAYS have it on sale between $16-18 for 12.  You won't necessarily find Torpedo, but that is most common after SNPA.  This usually also applies to the seasonals when they are sold in 12-packs: Ruthless Rye, Tropical, Celebration, etc.  I've never bought that much at a time, but I think they'll knock another 10% if you buy a case's worth.  However, that might only apply to six-packs. It's consistently the best beer deal around.  I'd also note that they always have Lagunitas products for $9-10.

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The Safeway I go to (5th/K NW) has Sierra Nevada products for $14.99/12-pack right now, but I'm pretty sure that is the price for Safeways across the city (this is the price if you have a Safeway card, mind you, else it's $20 I think). 

Ah, I see. I don't have loyalty cards. My activities are sufficiently tracked without them.

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Ah, I see. I don't have loyalty cards. My activities are sufficiently tracked without them.

The Illuminati! I forgot.  If you are concerned at all about tracking in the modern age, loyalty cards are the least of your worries (you are revealing more to the world by browsing this site unless you have deep cleaned your cookies and are anonymizing your presence with VPNs or Tor).  You don't need to give any real information (or even true information!) to get these cards, the employees generally don't care and hand them out like candy.  I can think of only one card I own where I actually had to show an ID to verify information.  For the rest I am but a customer ID attached to a shopping history.  The real benefit to grocery stores is supply chain management.  Aggregated data is used to make purchasing choices for individual stores knowing that customers with loyalty cards are inclined to shop there.  The credit/bank cards I use to pay for purchases are doing much more insidious tracking than Safeway knowing a person attached to my ID buys a particular brand of chips a lot, and Google knows a disturbing amount about all of us.

To bring it back on topic: $7.50 Sierra six packs.  It's a great deal whether or not it helps the Rockefellers plot your destruction remotely.

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I recoiled a little when I read the Tropical IPA label. Personally, I prefer that beer flavors come from grain, hops or yeast (although I'm not against the occasional, subtle something in the secondary), so I felt that SN is simply jumping on the fruit and "extra crap in the beer" bandwagon with Tropical IPA. I make, and I've drunk, excellent IPAs with tropical flavors coming only from hops and yeast. Why add fruit? I won't turn down buying a glass or bottle, but I won't buy more unless I'm blown away by the superiority of this beer.

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I recoiled a little when I read the Tropical IPA label. Personally, I prefer that beer flavors come from grain, hops or yeast (although I'm not against the occasional, subtle something in the secondary), so I felt that SN is simply jumping on the fruit and "extra crap in the beer" bandwagon with Tropical IPA. I make, and I've drunk, excellent IPAs with tropical flavors coming only from hops and yeast. Why add fruit? I won't turn down buying a glass or bottle, but I won't buy more unless I'm blown away by the superiority of this beer.

Hmm...one of us is misreading the label, because my understanding is that the "tropical flavors" are indeed coming from the variety of hops they use in the beer, and not the addition of any fruit.

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Hmm...one of us is misreading the label, because my understanding is that the "tropical flavors" are indeed coming from the variety of hops they use in the beer, and not the addition of any fruit.

After looking at the web site, I agree with you. My reading of the label gave me a different impression, but I can't guarantee I wasn't biased by the name.

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After looking at the web site, I agree with you. My reading of the label gave me a different impression, but I can't guarantee I wasn't biased by the name.

Over the past few days, I had a six-pack of this (found in a 7-11 near Napa Valley!), and enjoyed it, as you all discussed up above. I don't remember it being less than $7, but I wasn't paying that much attention (if you *really* want me to find out, tell me by tomorrow evening, and I'll go back to the 7-11 and look).

I liked it very much, and it did have a very citrusy component which came from the varieties of hops used.

I also tried a four-pack of Dogfish Head "Tweason'ale" - a gluten-free, sorghum-based ale with strawberries and buckwheat honey. Weighing in at 6% ABV, it was very good, but perhaps a bit fatiguing after a time - I ended up (forgive me, my father, for I have sinned) mixing it half-and-half with New Belgian Fat Tire Amber Ale, figuring the citrusy hops would counteract the malty, industrial characteristic of the Fat Tire, and I was largely going down the right path, although it wasn't "the perfect mixture" I was hoping for, against all odds. Worth trying once? You bet.

I've been mixing the east and west coasts out here, in some certain fashions (nothing of merit), and I'm having a great deal of fun in doing so. It's funny - because of my basic training, I think it's heretical to marry two bottles of wine, but I have no problem whatsoever mixing beers - what gives? This makes no logical sense.

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I also tried a four-pack of Dogfish Head "Tweason'ale" - a gluten-free, sorghum-based ale with strawberries and buckwheat honey. Weighing in at 6% ABV, it was very good, but perhaps a bit fatiguing after a time - I ended up (forgive me, my father, for I have sinned) mixing it half-and-half with New Belgian Fat Tire Amber Ale, figuring the citrusy hops would counteract the malty, industrial characteristic of the Fat Tire, and I was largely going down the right path, although it wasn't "the perfect mixture" I was hoping for, against all odds. Worth trying once? You bet.

I don't know why, but I have never been a fan of Fat Tire.  I never really got it.  This dates back to 1999 when I traveled out west for a college class over the summer.  We left from Bethlehem PA, in a caravan of vans and once we crossed the Mississippi River, everyone rushed to the nearest store and started buying it by the case.   I always thought New Belgium sucked until they made it east a few years ago and I learned that they weren't a singular brewery.

It should be noted that Sierra Nevada now has a brewery in Asheville, NC and New Belgium has one under construction (although NB may have opened and I am behind a bit).  All in all good news as they both make some of the best beers out there and having an East Coast presence only means more of their beer locally and it should theoretically be fresher.

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