What to Drink This Weekend: Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Mixed 12-Pack
Sierra Nevada is known primarily for their Pale Ale, a genuinely delicious and affordable beer that’s available pretty much everywhere you go, in the shittiest of shitty bodegas and in bars and restaurants that otherwise don’t offer anything outside the Bud/Bud Light realm. But what not everyone realizes about Sierra Nevada, at least not everyone outside beer nerd circles, is that they produce a huge amount of beers across a huge amount of styles, and just about all of them offer as much, if not more, than the Pale Ale in terms of flavor and value. Torpedo is an awesome example of a west coast IPA; Hoptimum is a highly sought after Double IPA; Bigfoot is a perfect introduction to Barleywines; Summerfest is a more than serviceable pilsner; Tumbler is a solid brown ale. The list goes on and on—it’s one of the most reliable breweries in the country, even if it doesn’t offer much in the way of mystique.
Which… well, the Beer Camp series has plenty of that, too. A few times a year, Sierra Nevada runs a two-day event where homebrewers visit the brewery and are given the opportunity to formulate and brew a brand new recipe. For the second year in a row, they’ve released four of those beers in a mixed 12-pack that’s starting to show up around Brooklyn. I picked mine up at American on Court Street, for $24.99—not cheap, exactly, but a bargain nonetheless. Here’s what’s in there…
