More of that

I got my hands on the first Sierra Nevadas of the year last month. They're two IPAs, so very much what the brewery is good at, if somewhat disappointingly unoriginal. We already have several IPAs made in this country.

The first out is called Hop Tropical, and I was on alert straight away, remembering my rule that beers described as "tropical" almost never taste it. Sierra Nevada wouldn't get that wrong, though, would they? Yes and no. It's not powerfully tropical, but there is a little mango and pineapple sweetness, especially in the finish and aftertaste. Before that, there's a classic citric bite, of satsuma and lime, with a little oily resin bitterness as well. As such it's well-balanced and very tasty. And it's clean too, showing only the very slightest haze in the pale yellow body, contributing to the crisp, precise taste. 6.5% ABV is fairly modest, and no alcohol heat disturbs the lovely hopping. There's also great head retention with pretty lacing on the glass. This is a class act, and by no means a novelty beer or some sort of youth-oriented "juice bomb". While not exactly an original creation, the quality is unassailable and the enjoyment immense.

Meanwhile, they're definitely running out of names for entries in the never-ending Little Things series. What's purportedly radical about Rad Little Thing is its combination of "East Coast haze" with "West Coast flavor" to create a "West Coast hazy IPA" (albeit brewed in North Carolina). Call me a jaded old hack, but I wasn't wowed, nor especially intrigued. It's not even all that hazy, though somewhat more so than the beer above. Not much happens in the aroma, and the flavour takes a while to get going. The first thing I noticed is the sharp bitterness, raw and piney, so it is doing the West Coast thing. There isn't really the flavour to back this up: where it should by rights be roaring with grapefruit, there's only quite a light pithy quality. The murk brings an unwelcome savoury dregginess, and there's significant heat in the finish, although it's only 7% ABV. Hazy Little Thing's key feature was its bright fruity character; replacing that with a hard bitterness doesn't really make for a good beer. Few members of this series are worth their salt, and here's another for the nope pile.

I do like that Sierra Nevada is still pushing out brand new beer, and I'm happy to feature them on this blog when they come my way. I blame the beer market for the fact that, these days, everything is an IPA because nothing else sells. If any of you IPA-only drinkers are reading this: knock it off, yeah?