Good news for you southern folk

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co, originally from Chico, California, is opening a new brewing facility in North Carolina. The purpose of this new facility is to accommodate demand in the South and East Coast. Sierra Nevada brewing company is best known for its Pale Ale, which is one of the best mass produced beers in the country. In addition to the Pale Ale, they also are renown for their seasonal beers, like Celebration IPA, Big Foot Barleywine, Estate (hops grown on site in Chico), and Northern/Southern harvest. Their brewery in California is a really unique place, offering great food and exceptional beer at a reasonable price. The location also was built to be as environmentally friendly as possible. I expect the same will be true of the new location.

So if you don't already have it, keep an eye out for Sierra Nevada at your local grocery store shelves as soon as next year!

I like Sierra Nevada, but it ain't you guy's best. Hopefully this is a continuation of what started with Sam Adams.......the growth of good beer in tUSA.

Can't wait for Anderson Valley to open up more brewries.

......or Firestone

Tiress?

Pun wrote:Tiress?

No silly........the beer. It is from San Louis Obispo. Pretty damn good too. Their 805 is perfect for a hot day out at the lake.

Marconius wrote:I like Sierra Nevada, but it ain't you guy's best. Hopefully this is a continuation of what started with Sam Adams.......the growth of good beer in tUSA.

Can't wait for Anderson Valley to open up more brewries.

Hardly our best, but still good.

Stone is building a much larger brewing facility in San Diego County. The two best breweries I've found in California are Russian River in Santa Rosa (north Bay Area) and Kern River in Kernville (southern Sierra Nevada). Russian River's Pliny the Elder (DIPA) and Pliny the Younger (TIPA, thats right, triple IPA) are exceptional, but very hard to get outside of the bay area. Kern River's Citra DIPA is great, but they're so small of an operation that they're hard to get outside of Kernville (their distribution system is the owners pick up).

Bryant wrote:

Stone is building a much larger brewing facility in San Diego County. The two best breweries I've found in California are Russian River in Santa Rosa (north Bay Area) and Kern River in Kernville (southern Sierra Nevada). Russian River's Pliny the Elder (DIPA) and Pliny the Younger (TIPA, thats right, triple IPA) are exceptional, but very hard to get outside of the bay area. Kern River's Citra DIPA is great, but they're so small of an operation that they're hard to get outside of Kernville (their distribution system is the owners pick up).

I never really understood youse guys attraction to IPAs, when I was in Seattle last year it was hard to get a beer that wasn't an IPA.


Can ye get Sink The Bismarck over there in many places? Is as expensive as bedamned over here, and only has to come over from Scotland, so can imagine what it's like over with ye. Tried it in a pub over here a while ago, they don't even sell it by the bottle, costs too much, you get shots of it like whisky....

Wha

Miles1 wrote:

Bryant wrote:

Stone is building a much larger brewing facility in San Diego County. The two best breweries I've found in California are Russian River in Santa Rosa (north Bay Area) and Kern River in Kernville (southern Sierra Nevada). Russian River's Pliny the Elder (DIPA) and Pliny the Younger (TIPA, thats right, triple IPA) are exceptional, but very hard to get outside of the bay area. Kern River's Citra DIPA is great, but they're so small of an operation that they're hard to get outside of Kernville (their distribution system is the owners pick up).

I never really understood youse guys attraction to IPAs, when I was in Seattle last year it was hard to get a beer that wasn't an IPA.


Can ye get Sink The Bismarck over there in many places? Is as expensive as bedamned over here, and only has to come over from Scotland, so can imagine what it's like over with ye. Tried it in a pub over here a while ago, they don't even sell it by the bottle, costs too much, you get shots of it like whisky....

While IPAs are a British beer, the microbrew movement (which has now produced some larger breweries like Stone and Sierra Nevada) in California took the old idea and hopped the hell out of it. The general theme of the California scene is to brew something with the maximum amount of hops that is still palatable. Almost every brewery out here has at least one IPA. Most brew a double IPA. Russian River claims to have a triple IPA, although its really just a hyper-hoped double. Many breweries feature seasonal barleywines (not a wine!). We're now seeing a bit of experiment with Belgian hybrids (last night I drank a beer called Belgo-Hoptologist brewed by Knee Deep Brewing Company, which is a double IPA brewed with a Belgian yeast strain). Imperial Pilsners and Loggers are also starting to show up (basically you do to a Pilsner or Lagger what the IPA did to a pale ale). One does not generally see a lot of malt intense beers like stouts in California. I can't speak for the beers of Oregon (although Deschutes in southern Oregon does have some good seasonal) or Washington. I can speak for Arizona, their beer sucks just as bad as almost everything else in that state.

I've heard of beers like the Bismark. They try to get as high of a alcohol content as possible at the sacrifice of flavor. I think they miss the point. Most CA breweries are trying to maximize the flavor of the hops and accept the alcohol content as a side effect. If one is just trying to get smashed, they're better off chugging cheap, flavorless beer than even touching an IPA. I wish we could find a way of brewing a low alcohol IPA or barleywine without sacrificing the flavor, that way I could spend the evening enjoying good beer. Tioga-Sequoia Brewing Company in Fresno brews a terrific seasonal barleywine, however due to the alcohol content (13%!) they cut you off at two pints (which is fair, 'cause after two of those I can hardly walk straight).

Speaking of barleywine, has anyone here ever had Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot? I picked up a 4 pack when I was in Davis earlier this week. It has great flavor and a surprisingly low alcohol content (9.2%, which places it just ahead of most DIPAs).

I like pale lagers. Clean, crisp and refreshing in the broiling South.

Bryant wrote:[One does not generally see a lot of malt intense beers like stouts in California.

That's because it's too bloody hot in California. Drinks like Guinness were designed for cooler climates, you try to spend a night on the Guinness in a hot country and you'll be in for a world of hurt (and so will anyone who has to use the toilet after you.....)

Miles1 wrote:

Bryant wrote:[One does not generally see a lot of malt intense beers like stouts in California.

That's because it's too bloody hot in California. Drinks like Guinness were designed for cooler climates, you try to spend a night on the Guinness in a hot country and you'll be in for a world of hurt (and so will anyone who has to use the toilet after you.....)

Yeah, down here stouts are reserved for winter. Summertime down here is usually too intense for IPA's even. As far as ales go, I like APA's or blonde/amber ales.........all are about the same.

I stil wanna try brewing my own beer. I think I'll order a kit in a week or so.

Dennis324 wrote:I stil wanna try brewing my own beer. I think I'll order a kit in a week or so.

The trick to brewing your own beer is to make it in 3 batches. When the first one explodes, the other 2 are ready to drink :-P

Lol

Hey, is how we used to do it in college....

Miles1 wrote:

Dennis324 wrote:I stil wanna try brewing my own beer. I think I'll order a kit in a week or so.

The trick to brewing your own beer is to make it in 3 batches. When the first one explodes, the other 2 are ready to drink :-P

Gosh don't say that!!! Lol! I ordered a kit and it should be in sometime today. I guess I'll be making it in the bathtub now.

I think I just made a critical mistake. I accepted a job in a part of Oregon where the nearest Sierra Nevada dealer is a couple hours away. If there is no Sierra Nevada, there likely will be no other acceptable quality beer. Guess I'm ganna have to take up brewing too!

Bryant wrote:I think I just made a critical mistake. I accepted a job in a part of Oregon where the nearest Sierra Nevada dealer is a couple hours away. If there is no Sierra Nevada, there likely will be no other acceptable quality beer. Guess I'm ganna have to take up brewing too!

Not necessarily. Seems to be a big craft brewing movement up there, big enough to have a top 10 anwyay. And if you go to google maps and type in "oregon beer" you get a lot of places in Portland. Plus you're not a million miles away from Seattle there, and when I was in Seattle last year you couldn't turn a corner without falling over another damned microbrewery (and depending on how many you visited, you would be falling over...).

Unless your'e out in the sticks of course, in which case, good luck getting decent beer anyway....

Miles1 wrote:

Bryant wrote:I think I just made a critical mistake. I accepted a job in a part of Oregon where the nearest Sierra Nevada dealer is a couple hours away. If there is no Sierra Nevada, there likely will be no other acceptable quality beer. Guess I'm ganna have to take up brewing too!

Not necessarily. Seems to be a big craft brewing movement up there, big enough to have a top 10 anwyay. And if you go to google maps and type in "oregon beer" you get a lot of places in Portland. Plus you're not a million miles away from Seattle there, and when I was in Seattle last year you couldn't turn a corner without falling over another damned microbrewery (and depending on how many you visited, you would be falling over...).

Unless your'e out in the sticks of course, in which case, good luck getting decent beer anyway....

I'll be in John Day, OR from June to December for work. John Day is about 3 hours east of Bend OR and about 2 1/2 hours west of Boise Idaho. Very much in the sticks. That said, Deschutes is just down the highway in Bend and does (according to their website) have outlets in John Day. Not a huge Deschutes fan, but its still better than PBR!

Bryant wrote: Not a huge Deschutes fan, but its still better than PBR!

I've had PBR. I'd rather drink water on a night out. ....

Miles1 wrote:

Bryant wrote: Not a huge Deschutes fan, but its still better than PBR!

I've had PBR. I'd rather drink water on a night out. ....

It isn't any worse than Bud, Coors or any of the other mass produced horsepissinabottle that passes for beer around here.

Marconius wrote:
It isn't any worse than Bud, Coors or any of the other mass produced horsepissinabottle that passes for beer around here.

Yeah, and I wouldn't drink any of those either :-P

You guys like Sam Adams beer? I tried some called Summer Ale and it was pretty good. Slightly sweet aftertaste which I like. Not as sweet though as Old Style, which I used to really like.