Name: Celebration Ale

Brewer: Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

Style: IPA/Holiday Brew

Vintage: 2007

Cellared On: November 17th, 2007

Original Tasting: December 6th, 2007

I already wrote all about this beer last week when it won the head-to-head Christmas beer tasting.  If you haven’t read that article yet, this brew narrowly beat out my vintage 2004 Celebration Ale in a taste test cage match. Just to stay consistent with where the tasting notes are located on this site, I’d thought I’d just quickly rehash my findings here.

The 2007 Celebration Ale pours a clear dark orange, very nice to look at. The carbonation level is fairly high, and a thick head formed in my pint glass without very much effort. The head melted in a white creamy cloud which had very good retention. Beautiful and complex piney hop smells were in the air.

There are beautiful and complex hop flavors in the glass too. From the first sip to the lingering bitterness on the palette, the hops are center stage in this beer. Yes, there is a bit of malt flavor and a touch of background sweetness present, but that just rounds out the flavor. This light-bodied beer is all about the piney, citrusy, bitter hop flavor.

Six Month Tasting: August 19th, 2008

All of those big citrus hops are still there! If anything, the smell has slightly faded, but the beer is still incredibly bitter. I’m definitly noticing the malt a bit more in this tasting.

There might be a touch of an “old hop” flavor on the aftertaste, which is an almost cheese-like taste that I haven’t figured out yet. I wouldn’t call it a bad thing at this level, it’s more of an interesting flavor at this level.

Cellar Outlook: I’ll be keeping an especially close eye on this beer over the next few years. As my 2004 review mentioned, three years of aging seems a bit long for this beer. I can’t wait to taste it at the one to two year mark.

Six Month Cellar Outlook: I can’t see any surprises here. The hops will continue to pull back a bit, and we’ll be tasting more malty goodness.

Next Tasting: December 2008