Sierra all the way

I honestly thought they had just changed the can design. It's an indictment of slow-moving beer in Irish shops that I didn't bat an eyelid when both designs sat side by side for month after month. A conversation with the eminent Bodge about the place of lime in brewing led me to the revelation that there were, in fact, two forms of Sierra Nevada Otra Vez gose, the new one with Lime and Agave. In my defence, the writing is very small.

What Bodge was saying was that lime tends to completely take over the flavour of anything it's in, and that's definitely the case here: there's a sweet hit of lime ice lollies (or sorbet if you're posh) right from the outset and nothing much else gets past it. Maybe some of the sweetness is agave syrup, but that doesn't save it from being quite one-dimensional. Like way too many beers with the word "gose" on the label there's only the faintest, and missable, hint of salt and absolutely no coriander.

This is pleasant in an unbeery, fizzy lime cordial sort of way. I can imagine it quenching many a desert thirst in Albuquerque or Santa Fe. A dismal autumnal evening in Dublin didn't really give it any contextual advantage, however.

My Otra Vez explorations continued a while later at a Sierra Nevada extravaganza hosted by The TapHouse in Ranelagh. Among the line-up here was a third iteration: Tequila Barrel Otra Vez, a natural progression, of course. This was far from one-dimensional. A honeycomb aroma introduces it and the flavour is sweet and dessertish with a sticky texture to match, while also being sharp and tangy thanks to the irrepressible lime. Mead came to mind, as did Tokaji: it's that sort of effortlessly classy complexity. I'd never have thought that a novelty beer like Otra Vez could be poshed up like this, but it seems all you need is a tequila cask.

Among the bottles on the go was Sierra Nevada Vienna and I was startled to learn I had never tasted it. It's a Vienna lager, of course, though looked a little pale in the dim light, golden rather than the copper shade I would expect. This is a beer of understated balance, with a smooth biscuity sweetness and a tang from noble hops which doesn't turn acridly grassy as they sometimes do. I miss the dark malt richness, the melanoidins, but that doesn't seem to be the direction the brewery has taken this one. While unexciting, it's very well-constructed and doubtless exactly what it was intended to be.

And there was another quartet of little green cans, following on from the Fresh Hop set last autumn and the Southern Hemisphere ones several months ago. This time each uses a single iconic variety of American hops.

Citra IPL is 5.5% ABV with a decently clean grain base. Onto this is grafted a mild lime bitterness, very noticeably citric but not overdone. There's a surprise peppery complexity in the finish as well. India Pale Lagers rarely wow me, and this one doesn't, but it's fun and refreshing which is all that's required of it.

We go up to 6.7% ABV with the Amarillo IPA and I got a shock in the aroma here: caraway! That's not something I've ever associated with this hop breed. There's a surprising, and disappointing, lack of fruit in the flavour. Instead it's all seed husks, fried onions and alcohol, very far from orangey Amarillo and therefore a poor showcase for it.

Matters got even worse when it came to the Mosaic DIPA. This is harshly savoury, as can happen with Mosaic, and there's none of the juicy tropicality it imparts when used well. Somehow it also comes across dry and plasticky, the 8% ABV giving it a cloying claggy quality. No fun at all.

I missed out on the fourth one in the set on the night, El Dorado Session IPA, but picked it up in an off licence a few days later. It's clear and golden, with a muted aroma, though one which does show the signature tropical chew-sweets of the hop. Phew! It tastes lightly lemony, dusted with a citrus perfume and has a smooth and easy-going texture, filling out its 4.6% ABV fully without being any way thin. It's not quite as fruity as I was expecting, the hops bringing a bitterness I don't associate with the breed but which helps balance it well. I could definitely imagine a session on this.

Not for the first time the lighter ones in the set are the most enjoyable.

We finish on a different lighter note: I was surprised and intrigued when I first saw Sierra Nevada's California IPA on tap in 57 The Headline. It's a rather inauspicious name. Turns out this is their 3 Weight session IPA rebadged for the European market. It's a very sessionable 4.2% ABV and an innocent pale yellow colour. There's a beautiful, luscious soft fruit flavour, all fresh peach and honeydew melon. This contrasts with a more serious oily-dank aroma. A certain dirty yeast grit creeps in as it warms but that's very mild and does nothing to dull the zingy fruit. Dare I throw in a Little Fawn parallel? Go on then: it's very nearly that good. This is the beer to choose on dark evenings when you need a reminder of what summer tastes like.

Thanks to all at The TapHouse and Grand Cru Beers for providing most of this lot. I'm never stuck for something to write about with Sierra Nevada.