10,000 Vinyasas

Those of us in South Texas, who are little used to a marked change in seasons, have to look for other signs that we’re moving away from the staggering heat of late summer/early fall and into the cooler, more festive months. We know, for example, that the holiday season officially starts with the arrival of seasonal beers, and this one is the best. Not the best seasonal beer, but the BEST BEER ON THE PLANET. Today, I’m happy to report that the 2010 holiday season has officially started, since I picked up a few six packs of this wonderful, extremely hoppy IPA. As a bonus, I found a place that has the absolute best price in town–yay!

Yum!

When it comes to beer, I’m a big hops fan. Big, hoppy IPAs make me smile and my taste buds applaud. There’s nothing better than visiting the Oregon Brewer’s Festival, a mecca for hops-loving beer nerds like me. I’ve liked Sierra Nevada’s Pale Ale, and their seasonal Celebration Ale is just about the best beer on the planet, in my totally subjective opinion, so this particular beer had some interest for me. I liked the coppery color, and the hops are plentiful. Nice big bitter taste. This is on par with Stone and Lagunitas, two California brewers who specialize in the American hoppy IPA style. Not quite the flavor and complexity of Celebration Ale, but still pretty darn good. The Sierra Nevada appellation suggests that one can find it on sale every so often, and so it was for the six pack I picked up the other day: $7.23. 7.2% ABV. Nice. Verdict: You could do a lot worse for this price. Of course, we do patronize local breweries who make their own fresh beer (see blogroll), but this is perfectly fine for store-bought beer.

I found this quirky little 11 ounce bottle, once again, on closeout at my local Costco, and picked up a bunch. Interesting beer; the “session” refers to the fact that it’s made for drinking several at a time. The relatively lower alcohol content (5.1 ABV) is proof (hah!) of this, but the taste is quite a bit better than a typical American lager. It’s not Sierra Nevada Celebration, but it’s got body and flavor, and for $3.75/6 pack, it ain’t bad. Here’s a pic:

This is one of the best beers of all time, according to my discerning beer palate, honed by many sessions of experimentation at the Flying Saucer and other venues. I should state up front that I have migrated to strong, hoppy IPAs, and Sierra Nevada Celebration is all of these.  6.8% alcohol, with a reddish coppery color and a moderately thick head, this is a quintessential IPA.  I was lucky enough to find this on sale at my local Costco a couple of weeks ago at the astounding closeout price of $14.97/case, which is less than $4.00/sixpack.  You just don’t find beer deals like that every day, unfortunately. Back to the beer, though; I really like the holiday scene on the label…snowy scenes during the holidays remind me of growing up in Montana. Sierra Nevada is a mass-produced craft beer house out of Chico California, but the quality doesn’t seem to suffer because of the mass production…their pale ale is quite good, and their porters and stouts are passable, if not exactly inspiring examples.

This stuff is just terrible.  Billed as “ale brewed with real pumpkin and spices,” it gives ale a bad name.  Skunky is the best way to describe it. I found this on sale at $3.99/sixpack, but it’s probably worth about a dollar, if that. I’ve had some really really good deals on beer and wine in the last few months, but this ale is not an example. To be fair, it’s difficult to make flavored beer (Celis Raspberry is a great example of completely undrinkable fruit beer), but really, let’s not just put anything on the market and try to take advantage of the season…