Brad and I tried this offering a couple of months ago – and at the time we weren’t convinced that this as a ‘proper ale’ at all. Given where if comes from – California USA (no singing the OC theme tune please!) – it has all the signs of being an American beer and not ale at all. I seem to recall we weren’t that keen on it either.
Brad insists it is an American microbrew – so I will bow to his superior knowledge.

Sierra Nevada is the only ‘ale’ of the 30+ varieties I bought that is smaller than 500ml. This bottle is only 350ml.

There isn’t a lot of chat on the bottle about this ale – mind you there isn’t much room to write anything given the size of the bottle. On the bottle collar they say that Sierra Nevada “..is a completely natural ale. There are no additives, only the finest malted barley, whole hops, brewer’s yeast and crystal clear water.”

When I poured this in the glass there were lots of bits at the bottom. I wasn’t overly confident in the health of the bottle but Sierra Nevada also say “.. the fine layer of yeast in each bottle is the result of the traditional bottle-conditioning process that produces carbonation naturally!”. That’s as may be but I prefer my ale not to have bits in it – especially when it looks like anew strain of bacteria stuck to the bottom of the glass.

This ‘microbrew ale’ was just far too gassy straight from the bottle but – after some clever glass to glass decanting – I managed to knock all the gass out of it. Now it tastes like a nice light pale ale rather than a nasty American lager (sorry guys). I actually quite like this. It has the feel of a nice refreshing Summer Ale and it is hard to believe that it is 5.6% volume. Shame the bottle isn’t bigger – 2 gulps and it was gone.

Not a bad ‘microbrew ale’ at all. Well done to someone non British for making something drinkable! – and yes Brad – I know it isn’t ale. It still tastes quite nice though!