Nov. 15, 1980: 26-year-old Ken Grossman brewed his first commercial beer four years after launching his home-brewing hobby. There were just 40 breweries of all makes in the country, with sales dominated by Coors, Miller, and Budweiser. From modest beginnings on a 10-barrel brew system, Grossman now owns and operates the largest independent brewery in America ― Sierra Nevada Brewing. Grossman’s second beer release (Stout was the first), Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, boasted 36 IBUs, at least thrice as high as Bud Light. Peaks & Pints doesn’t know how many times we’ve heard someone say they tried a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on a whim in the 1980s, and that was all she wrote. Sierra was their introduction to the world of craft beer. The bitter hops were a palate shocker — a proverbial beer awakening. Tonight, Sierra Nevada Sales Executive R.J. is in the house with several beers on tap and a challenging Pop-up Quiz game ready to go. We also offer an all-day Sierra Nevada beer flight called Peaks and Pints Sierra Nevada Beer Flight.
Peaks and Pints Sierra Nevada Beer Flight
Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing
6.7% ABV
Sean Lavery joined Sierra Nevada in 2017 as vice president of technical innovation and brewing, replacing Steve Dressler, who had overseen Sierra Nevada’s brewing program since the early ’80s and had overseen the development of almost every new beer for 30 years. With the rise of hazy IPAs, Lavery was tasked with developing the extremely successful Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA, which he launched in January 2018. It is now Sierra Nevada’s best-selling draft product and even outperforms its iconic Pale Ale, which launched in 1980. The beer’s base contained a complex blend of malted and unmalted oats and wheat, whose proteins would provide the all-important creamy mouthfeel and cloudy appearance (together, essentially, haze). Juicy hops and silky malt meet in a Hazy Little Thing with fruit-forward flavor, modest bitterness, and a smooth finish.
Sierra Nevada Hop Tropical
6.5% ABV
Sierra Nevada offers a tropical flavor explosion for a limited time; Peaks & Pints managed to score a keg. Brewed with Motueka and Riwaka hops grown in the Southern Hemisphere over a simple malt bill of Two-row Pale, the lush aromas of mango and passionfruit beckon you to bold, fruity bliss.
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
6.8% ABV
Now that it’s wintertime, where do all the hops go? They’re currently hibernating during this yearly seasonal season at California’s Sierra Nevada Brewery. Amid the many big and malty winter ales, Celebration Ale provides a comfortable winter home for the season’s displaced hops. A little darker than the average American IPA, this ale has a citrusy, piney, and resinous hop character and a medium body.
Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA
7.2% ABV, 65 IBU
On a bar napkin in the early 2000s, Ken Grossman and his Sierra Nevada crew sketched a new way to dry-hop beer. Traditional dry hopping uses nylon sacks stuffed with hops and suspended in the tank. We found that as we removed the hop sacks, even after weeks suspended in the beer, we’d occasionally see the center dry, meaning the hops never encountered the beer. Sierra Nevada thought there had to be a better way, and in 2009, that idea became a reality with the invention of the Hop Torpedo. The Torpedo is a stainless-steel device packed with whole-cone hops and sealed against pressure. Fermenting beer is circulated from a fermenter through the column of hops and back into the fermentation tank. This circulation method is easily manipulated through time, temperature, and speed. They can control what types of flavors and aromas they extract from the hops and how those aromas will appear in the finished beer. The Chico brewery fired up its hop torpedo and brewed Torpedo Extra IPA. The device’s namesake beer is aggressive yet balanced with massive hop aromas of citrus, pine, and tropical fruit.
Sierra Nevada Narwhal Imperial Stout
10.2% ABV
As black as midnight, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.’s Narwhal Imperial Stout is one of the driest imperial stouts you’ll come across. Roasty, too, but with an uncharacteristic wave of deep, dark fruitiness, ending in medium-high bitterness and substantial alcohol burn. The sweetness and hops are moderate and just enough to blend in with the dark fruit, chocolate, and coffee flavors and aromas to keep a balance. A slight touch of extra bitterness at the end and no alcohol aftertaste or hotness help leave a clean finish.
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory