Anyone who knows the history of craft beer in the U.S. understands the heralded place that the Celebrator beer magazine holds. It truly does celebrate beer all over the country. And now they get a special beer for a special anniversary.
Take it away Tomm Carroll (a good friend and the Celebrator L.A. beat writer)
“Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. invited all of us writers for The Celebrator up to its acclaimed Beer Camp in Chico, Califronia, last November to brew a beer to commemorate The Celebrator’s 25th anniversary this February.
That’s right, the country’s oldest “beeriodical” is a quarter century old, and is celebrating (as always) with an anniversary party on the closing day of San Francisco Beer Week (February 17, 2013), when our draught-only brew will make its debut. This year, the festivities will be held at the Oakland Convention Center Marriott Hotel.
Now, about the beer. Dubbed “Celebrator Beer News 25th Anniversary Double Pale Ale” (see tap handle art, attached), it’s basically an imperialization of Sierra’s classic flagship Pale Ale, the brew that not only launched the brewery over 30 years ago, but arguably kick-started California’s obsession with West Coast hop-forward beers.
Here’s a description of our anniversary beer from the forthcoming Celebrator article (February-March 2013 issue; out next week) on our adventures at Beer Camp #93:
“We landed on the idea of taking the original Sierra Pale recipe, doubling the malt bill and adding some newer hops for a beer that we thought of as an Imperial Pale Ale. The grains used were pale malt in copious amounts, Caramel 60 and Golden Promise for a little something extra. Bravo and Cascade hops went into the boil while the dry-hop addition was to include more Cascade, symbolizing Sierra Nevada’s past, Citra for the present, and Hop #366 — a new experimental hop — for the future. Dry hops were added to the tank with the help of a hop torpedo, a large cylindrical tube filled with hops and shot directly into the solution for full effect. Of course, we used Sierra’s house ale yeast for fermentation.”
The abv for 25th Anniversary Double Pale Ale should be around 8.6%.
If you can’t get to SFBW to try the beer, don’t worry. Like most Beer Camp brews, it will be available on tap at beer bars in the city of the campers, after the anniversary party. So that means you can expect to see it being poured at a couple of L.A.-area drinkeries..” Which as of now are T.H. Brewster’s at the Four Points Sheraton LAX, The Surly Goat and Beachwood BBQ (the Seal Beach location).
