Topic Archives: IPA

Posted in Sierra Nevada, New Releases

Sierra Nevada Celebration IPA returns in cans this month

It’s always nice to see a venerable beer like Sierra Nevada Celebration IPA still able to stir up some excitement. The brewery posted a picture of Celebration cans ready waiting to be filled, and fans re-professed their love for this seasonal beer all over again. Celebration IPA is an absolute seasonal classic, akin to Bell’s Two Hearted, or Russian River’s Pliny the Elder. Only, you can only get it as the year wind’s down. 

Celebration Ale has hit shelves once again.  

Sierra Nevada has been brewing this fresh-hopped India pale ale since 1981, just one year after opening in 1980. While craft beer’s #1 selling style [IPA] has seen a lot of trends, Celebration Ale has remained steadfast in simply staying as-is. Perhaps that mix of quality and reliability is what makes it so popular – a fact proven by the overwhelming reactions from Celebration fans after the brewery posted the above photo this week. 

Celebration Ale follows Oktoberfest in the brewery’s seasonal series of releases. 

Style: IPA
Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft. 
First Release: 1981

Latest Return: November 2023

6.8% ABV

PIC: Beer Street Journal

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Posted in Sierra Nevada, New Releases

Sierra Nevada adds Crisp & Tropical Little Thing

Sierra Nevada Crisp Little Thing

Sierra Nevada’s “Little Things” Series expands with the addition of Crisp Little Thing a summer approaches.

The series started with Hazy Little Thing, which is the first nationally distributed hazy IPA in the U.S. For summer 2023, the brewery is releasing a lager- Crisp Little Thing, as well as Tropical Little Thing, the second in their limited rotating IPA series.

Crisp Little Thing is described as “crushable” as most lagers tend to be, 4.7% alcohol by volume and a smooth 18 IBUs. Only found the the “Little Things Party Pack” – 12 pack variety pack.

Tropical Hazy Little Thing is available in 12oz/6 packs, now through August 2023. The IPA features Cascade, Sabro, Sultana, El Dorado, and Amarillo hops, built on the back of oats, Two-Row malt and wheat.

Crisp Little Thing (4.7% ABV)
Style: Lager
Availability: 12oz Cans, Mixed Pack Exclusive

Tropical Little Thing (7% ABV)
Style: IPA
Hops: Sabro, Sultana, El Dorado, Cascade, Amarillo

Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft. May-August.

Debut: Summer 2023

Posted in Don't Miss This, New Realm Brewing, New Releases

New Realm Psychedelic Rabbit jumps in on the thiol craze

New Realm Psychedelic Rabbit WM 1

Let’s talk about thiols. If you crave tropical flavors in your beer or IPA, listen up. This bit of fermentation science is for you.

Thiols are aroma compounds and they come in two forms – free form and precursor. The free form are volatile and pungent thiols found in tropical fruits, grapes, and hops. Those thoils boast flavors of passion fruit and guava and fresh grapefruit. When a beer is more “thiol expressive” it is far bolder and big-time tropical.

Sounds good right? Eventually, but some fermentation science has to happen first.

Chicago-based Omega Yeast Labs introduced “Cosmic Punch,” a thiolized version of their British Ale yeast in 2021. This engineered yeast strain biotransforms the massive amount of thiol precursors in malt and hops to free form (expressive) thiols. Ultimately, the thiol output is far greater using this yeast than found in the traditional brewing process.

How? Omega’s goal was to make freeing these thiols more efficient. It’s about the IRC7, a gene in yeast that creates an enzyme that frees thiols from their precursor form. The challenge was that many brewing strains have mutations in the IRC7 gene that disable the enzyme, resulting in low thoil output.

Extremely simplified – Omega developed a yeast that keeps the gene active, and thus the enzyme. The final beer – which so many are IPAs or hoppy lagers are bright, snappy, and quite expressive.

It’s that bit of science behind New Realm Brewing’s new Psychedelic Rabbit Transcendent IPA. While the brewing team had created a few test batches of an IPA with Cosmic Punch, Kane Wille, brewer at New Realm says it was Omega’s Star Party yeast that really made a difference. “We did a 20-barrel batch in Atlanta and loved it, so it became Psyche Rabbit,” Wille says.

Azacca, Cashmere, Citra, and Mosaic hops headline this beer, and with the help of Star Party, you really find out what thiols are all about. The result is truly a burst of passionfruit, pineapple, and citrus flavors, in a beer that looks so much more of a west coast IPA, with a lighter mouthfeel, without having to be overly dry-hopped. “We wanted to bring something innovative to the market this year, and have been overwhemed by the success of this IPA already,” Jeff Chassner, Chief Sales Officer tells Beer Street Journal. “We are very fortunate to have such a talented brewmaster in Mitch Steele and an amazing team of brewers”

The India pale ale has always dominated craft beer, always going through a plethora of identities as the years pass. By the taste of it, the days of quadruple dry-hopping an IPA might be fading, with the rise of these yeasts.

Style: IPA
Hops: Azacca, Cashmere, Citra, Mosaic

Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft. Year-Round.

6.5%

Posted in Wild Heaven Craft Beers, Don't Miss This

Wild Heaven Sunburst IPA is a juicy year-round addition

Wild-Heaven-Sunburst-IPA-Cans

Wild Heaven Sunburst IPA launches this, marking just the third year-round IPA the brewery has released in 12 years. 

More than a decade ago, Wild Heaven launched with just two beers – Ode to Mercy (Imperial Brown Ale with coffee) and Invocation (Belgian Golden Strong Ale). An IPA release by the brewery was years away from being brewed, even with strong consumer demand. According to co-founder Eric Johnson at the time, “we’ll make one when I think there is a recipe good enough.” 

Finally, in 2016, Wise Blood IPA hit the lineup year-round. A year later, and 100 test batches and water chemistry adjustments, their first imperial IPA – Good Vice hit taps. Wild Heaven initially intended it to be year-round, but the brewery’s passion for that recipe faded fast. Then came Altair IPA in 2018.  Each beer was a stop on a hoppy journey to now.

Wise Blood and Altair are now ghosts.

Here at the brewery, the canning line is busy filling cans of Sunburst IPA – a new and now only year-round IPA the brewery will have for the foreseeable future. It’s aptly named. Sunburst is every bit bright and juicy as it’s billed. A big flavor departure from the brewery’s IPA predecessors, it’s looking to be one of the premier southern IPAs.

That spawned a debate with Josh Franks, head brewer at Wild Heaven. Could Southern IPA be a thing? India pale ale is undoubtedly the style juggernaut of the craft beer world. Going back about 15 years ago you’d find popularity with the English IPA. Soon to be taken over by West Coast IPA. Then a steady sequence of hoppy variants- the Belgian IPA, the Black IPA (aka the Cascadian Dark Ale), the New England IPA, and lactose heavy milkshake IPA. Should The South have its own? 

Maybe they already do. 

It’s not an official style but perhaps it should be. Think of an IPA that’s hoppy and bright. Juicy like a hazy IPA but still fairly clear, still holding on to some West Coast IPA bitterness. A subtle hybrid of two dominant styles. Creature Comforts Tropicalia and Scofflaw Basement IPA would be great examples. A (highly theoretical) southern IPA would be bright and sunny. Just like the sun-soaked, pollen heavy, 3 weeks of cold weather region they were born into. 

Wild Heaven Sunburst IPA hits retailers this week year-round in 12-ounce cans and draft.  

Style: IPA 
Hops: Citra, Talus, Galaxy, Mosaic, Cascade, Chinook, Amarillo

Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft. 
Debut: 3/24/22

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Posted in Wild Heaven Craft Beers, New Beers
Posted in Second Self Brewing Company, New Releases

Second Self Totally Twobular Beermosa Sour is coming 2/22 at 2:22pm

Second Self Totally Twobular

Second Self Totally Twobular, the brewery’s 7th Anniversary beer debuts on February 22nd. 

The Atlanta-based brewery created a Beermosa-style (juice and beer) sour India pale ale and added fresh peaches. The release is a collaboration with BottleShare, a non-profit organization supporting the craft beer industry. 

Second Self hosts their 7th Anniversary party on February 26th

Style: IPA (w/ Peaches)
Availability: 16oz Cans, Draft. Limited Release. 

Debut: 2/22/22, at 2:22pm

6.22% ABV

Posted in Orpheus Brewing, New Releases

Orpheus Brewing The Inevitable End, a west coast IPA

Orpheus Brewing The Inevitable End-Can

Orpheus Brewing The Inevitable End, a new West Coast style IPA debuts in cans in April. 

The Atlanta, Georgia-based brewery has had test batches of this beer available in the taproom since Labor Day weekend, coinciding with their 7th anniversary. The final recipe has been determined – using Centennial, Amarillo, Simcoe, Columbus, and Bravo hops.

As evidenced by the taproom batches, this is the least hazy India pale ale Orpheus has released to date. 

Orpheus Brewing The Inevitable End on draft hits distribution in late February. 12-ounce cans arrive in April 2022. 

Style: IPA 
Hops: Centennial, Amarillo, Simcoe, Columbus, Bravo

Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft. 
Debut (Cans): TBD

6.8% ABV