Beer of the Weekend #177: Celebration Ale
Today’s brown bottle lunch is Celebration Ale, brewed by the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company of Chico, California.
Breck’s Christmas Ale may eventually become my LV recommendation for December, but I bought a couple more winter/holiday brews to deepen my selection pool. The more the merrier, eh?
Serving type: One 12-ounce bottle. There is a cryptic batch code on the label, which is explained in a downloadable PDF from the Sierra Nevada website. This is, I believe, a new low in freshness dates. The batch code for my bottle is “027410557.” The first number is the last digit of the year (’10), and the next three numbers (274) represent the Julian day the beer was brewed on. The 274th day of 2010 was October 1. The next number (1) is the line the beer was bottled in, and the final four digits (0557) represent the 24-hour time the bottling occurred. So to translate, this Celebration Ale was bottled in line 1, October 1, 2010 at 5:57 am. I appreciate the thoroughness and precision, but it is way too cryptic.
Appearance: Straight pour into a pint glass. Major head, which was my fault. The color is a clean, clear, light copper. After getting the thick, off-white head under control, it dissipated slowly to leave a billowy lacing; foam clung to the sides of the glass.
Smell: Invigorating grapefruit citrus, but it is no warning of excessive hoppiness ahead. Sweet caramel malts and molasses give the aroma a nice balance, and there is a little pine spice as well. There are also scents of orange peels and cherries.
Taste: Much toastier than the smell leads on, which is very pleasing. Grapefruit citrus up front followed by the malts: sweet caramel, molasses, and a little bit of chocolate. Backing the malts is pine spice and orange peels. A pleasant hop bitterness lingers in the aftertaste.
Drinkability: This is really good stuff. Not only does it have bite, but it also has a very well-balanced malt quality to keep it from going over the bitterness edge.
Fun facts about Celebrator Ale:
-Style: BA classifies it as an American IPA:
-Price: $1.79/bottle at John’s Grocery in Iowa City.
-Serving temperature: 45-50ºF.
-Alcohol content: 6.8 percent ABV.
-Food pairings: BA recommends curried/Thai cuisine, peppery cheeses (Monterey, Pepper Jack), sharp cheeses (Blue, Cheddar), pungent cheeses (Gorgonzola, Limburger), poultry, fish, shellfish, and salmon.
-IBU: 65.
The Quiet Man’s grade: A-.
Breck’s Christmas Ale may eventually become my LV recommendation for December, but I bought a couple more winter/holiday brews to deepen my selection pool. The more the merrier, eh?
Serving type: One 12-ounce bottle. There is a cryptic batch code on the label, which is explained in a downloadable PDF from the Sierra Nevada website. This is, I believe, a new low in freshness dates. The batch code for my bottle is “027410557.” The first number is the last digit of the year (’10), and the next three numbers (274) represent the Julian day the beer was brewed on. The 274th day of 2010 was October 1. The next number (1) is the line the beer was bottled in, and the final four digits (0557) represent the 24-hour time the bottling occurred. So to translate, this Celebration Ale was bottled in line 1, October 1, 2010 at 5:57 am. I appreciate the thoroughness and precision, but it is way too cryptic.
Appearance: Straight pour into a pint glass. Major head, which was my fault. The color is a clean, clear, light copper. After getting the thick, off-white head under control, it dissipated slowly to leave a billowy lacing; foam clung to the sides of the glass.
Smell: Invigorating grapefruit citrus, but it is no warning of excessive hoppiness ahead. Sweet caramel malts and molasses give the aroma a nice balance, and there is a little pine spice as well. There are also scents of orange peels and cherries.
Taste: Much toastier than the smell leads on, which is very pleasing. Grapefruit citrus up front followed by the malts: sweet caramel, molasses, and a little bit of chocolate. Backing the malts is pine spice and orange peels. A pleasant hop bitterness lingers in the aftertaste.
Drinkability: This is really good stuff. Not only does it have bite, but it also has a very well-balanced malt quality to keep it from going over the bitterness edge.
Fun facts about Celebrator Ale:
-Style: BA classifies it as an American IPA:
The American IPA is a different soul from the reincarnated IPA style. More flavorful than the withering English IPA, color can range from very pale golden to reddish amber. Hops are typically American with a big herbal and / or citric character, bitterness is high as well. Moderate to medium bodied with a balancing malt backbone.
-Price: $1.79/bottle at John’s Grocery in Iowa City.
-Serving temperature: 45-50ºF.
-Alcohol content: 6.8 percent ABV.
-Food pairings: BA recommends curried/Thai cuisine, peppery cheeses (Monterey, Pepper Jack), sharp cheeses (Blue, Cheddar), pungent cheeses (Gorgonzola, Limburger), poultry, fish, shellfish, and salmon.
-IBU: 65.
The Quiet Man’s grade: A-.
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