Review Date 7/29/2014
Try? Re-buy?
Price
Meter
High!
A few months ago (I can’t recall exactly when) I first learned of Sierra Nevada’s plans for their 2014 Beer Camp Sampler. This isn’t the first year, of course, that they’ve done a Beer Camp 12-pack, and I look forward to the variety of beers they deliver, each a special formulation by a homebrewer. At least that’s usually the case, anyway. For 2014, Sierra Nevada wanted to do something a little differently.
Hence, Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Across America. This time around, the sampler would in fact offer 12 unique brews, each a collaboration with a highly regarded brewery. The beers would be brewed at Sierra Nevada’s two facilities: Chico, California, and Mills River, North Carolina. More than an eclectic gathering of special beers, this sampler shines through as a symbol of the collective spirit craft brewers hold, a spirit of respect and admiration for finely crafted beer that transcends the competitive drive.
The 12 beers in the sampler include (from the Sierra Nevada Website):
•Allagash Brewing Company, Portland, Maine -- Myron’s Walk Belgian-Style Pale Ale
•Asheville Brewers Alliance, Asheville, N.C. -- Tater Ridge Scottish Ale
•Ballast Point Brewing Company, San Diego, Calif. -- Electric Ray India Pale Lager
•Bell’s Brewery, Inc., Kalamazoo, Mich. -- Maillard’s Odyssey Imperial Dark Ale
•Cigar City Brewing, Tampa, Fla. -- Yonder Bock Tropical Maibock (CAN)
•Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Paso Robles, Calif. -- Torpedo Pilsner Hoppy Pilsner
•New Glarus Brewing Company, New Glarus, Wis. -- There and Back English-Style Bitter
•Ninkasi Brewing Company, Eugene, Ore. -- Double Latte Coffee Milk Stout
•Oskar Blues Brewery, Longmont, Colo./Brevard, N.C. -- CANfusion Rye Bock (CAN)
•Russian River Brewing Company, Santa Rosa, Calif. -- Yvan the Great Belgian-Style Blonde
•3 Floyds Brewing Company, Munster, Ind. -- Chico King Pale Ale
•Victory Brewing Company, Downingtown, Pa. -- Alt Route Altbier
It’s the Myron's Walk Belgian Style Pale Ale Brewed with Coriander that I’m drinking tonight, and more on that in a minute. First, though, I had to find the sampler, and I knew that wasn’t going to be an easy task. I e-mailed Sherlocks in Kennesaw about it, but didn’t get a response. Total Wine couldn’t tell me when it was coming in. I only found out when pictures started appearing in Honest Craft Beer Reviews, and then I made it a mission to get a 12-pack. Luckily, Sherlocks had just gotten them in, and I raced there in time to score (along with a bonus 13th bomber of a Beer Camp West Coast Double IPA).
The price was not as welcome a surprise, however: $25 is steep indeed, and $5 more than I paid for last year’s Beer Camp 12-pack. That was overpriced as well in my book. Prices seem to vary across the country according to accounts in Honest Craft Beer Reviews, with prices as low as $17 and as high as $30 being reported. $25 seems to be the median price, and as much as I complain about price it’s important to note you are paying for 12 unique singles here, and that is a mitigating factor. Then too, these aren’t beers to pop in succession over a weekend, but to be savored over a series of nights one by one.
My advice: don’t let the high price keep you from this one.
OK, now to the Myron's Walk Belgian Style Pale Ale Brewed with Coriander that I’m drinking tonight. This is the third bottle (or can for that matter) that I’ve popped from the sampler. The plan had been to drink them in order of strength, smallest to largest. But our own Tom Beer Whisperer Mulvihill teased me awhile back with the notions of sweet potato in beer in a brew that included them. Since Tater Ridge also used that tuber as an ingredient, it was the first to be popped. I'm now drinking them in order of alcohol content, and Myron's Walk is the second lowest by that criteria.
Myron's Walk is a collaborative effort with Maine's Allagash Brewing, one of my very favorite breweries. As an old New Englander, I've enjoyed many of their beers and hence was looking forward to this one.
The label gives some insight on the name:
This collaboration honors Myron Avery, a founder of the Appalachian Trail which spans our North Carolina brewery and Allagash's home in Maine. We share a great love of the outdoors, and Avery and the AT are great reminders of the wild spirit of exploration that connects us both.
Ingredients from the website:
Yeast -Belgian
Bittering Hops -Bravo
Finishing Hops -Cascade, Citra, Mosaic
Malts -Two-row Pale, Unmalted Wheat, Munich, Victory
Other -Coriander
Myron's Walk has an alcohol content of 5.3% by volume and 38 IBUs. Mine was bottled on 6/03/14, I assume at the Mills River facility.
Sierra Nevada Myrons Walk Belgian Style Pale Ale Brewed with Coriander pours to a slightly cloudy yellow color with a respectable foamy head formation and a soft tropical fruity nose of pineapple and passion fruit. Taking a sip, the beer has some light crisp malt up front followed by lots of tropical fruit and subtle pungent coriander. Not really getting any Belgian yeastiness though. Finish is slightly sweet, fruity, with a gentle herbal bitterness.
As much as I was looking forward to this one, it's the weakest of the three I have so far tasted. For one thing, the fruity hops seem out of place to me and if there is any Belgian yeastiness, they conceal it. I do get a little coriander, but I want that yeasty funk going on. Hence, this is just a lot like another fruity pale ale. On it's own merits, I probably would not buy this one again, certainly not at the price.
I like Samuel Adams Grumpy Monk a lot better for a Belgian Pale Ale (even if that one does call itself a Belgian IPA). And what a shame Sierra Nevada didn't collaborate with Boston Beer.......
Sierra Nevada will be doing festivals to celebrate its efforts as well, and you can read more about them here.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft