Time for a celebration?

Our recent Beer of the Year show produced a winner from the American seasonal stable, the Anchor Special Ale 2006. But other brewers over the pond produce winter beers as well, and last week we managed to track down another Californian seasonal – Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. Although their operations aren’t as historic as the San Franciscans (brewing began in 1979), the Chico concern have won many awards and plaudits with their Pale Ale. However, the winter Celebration Ale is only available for a limited period, and is dry-hopped with Cascade and Centennial for extra flavour.

The brewery themselves describe it as making “the long, cold nights of winter a little brighter. Wonderfully robust and rich, it is brewed especially for the holidays and is perfect for a festive gathering, or for a quiet evening at home.” Well, the BeerCasters sampled it in front of a particularly dreadful Premier League match on the television, as Fulham and Newcastle limped to a goalless draw. But the highlight of the evening was the beer – Celebration doesn’t taste like a usual seasonal winter beer, there’s no spices or cloves or dark tastes. What there is instead is hops – hops up front, hops on the tongue, and hops in the aftertaste. It tastes like a typical strong west coast US IPA, and has the dark golden colour to match, but the dry hopping has upped the oomph factor, and it’s really rather good.