Sierra Nevada Summerfest Beer Review

Sierra Nevada Summerfest

Review Date 10/4/2002 Last Updated 8/11/2016

Try? Re-buy?

As I write this, the calendar is telling me that its fall. The weather here in Georgia, however, is another story entirely: it still thinks its summer. The past few days we’ve had temperatures in the nineties here, something I’m not accustomed to this time of year. As I normally do during October, I’m sampling plenty of delicious, malty Marzen beers, but the hot weather often calls for a crisp refreshing pilsner too. That being the case, this year my Oktoberfest has been joined by Summerfest. Sierra Nevada Summerfest to be precise.

What’s that you say? A lager from Sierra Nevada? It’s true. Though they’re most famous for their pale ale, stout, porter, IPA (Celebration), and barleywine (Bigfoot), all firmly grounded in the ale category, Sierra Nevada also brews up a delightful and authentic pilsner for the summer months. You don’t have to wait until October to enjoy it, either, since it appears in late spring to early summer. I’ve been quaffing it regularly all season.

Sierra Nevada Summerfest is bottom fermented and cold conditioned to give it a cleaner, smoother taste than most ales exhibit. This is one of the factors that set it apart from Sierra Nevada’s ales. It is brewed with two-row barley malt with a bit of dextrin malt thrown in to add body. Dextrins are sugars that yeast cannot consume. These sugars remain in the beer giving it flavor and body. This is the rich, smooth mouthfeel you get when you sip a well-crafted beer.

Hallertau hops are used to impart a traditional lager flavor; Perles are also used for bittering. I find this to be an authentic pilsner style beer. It has the right malt character and hop bite for that style, and indeed it did win a gold medal in the European Classic Pilsner category at the Great American Beer Festival in 1991.

Sierra Nevada Summerfest pours to a light golden color with a fizzy, short-lived spritzy head and a sweet malty nose. The palate is clean, crisp, and malty with good mouthfeel and smooth drinkability. This leads into a spicy hop finish with a pleasant lingering hop bitterness. An excellent pilsner style beer that is the perfect refresher after a long walk in the hot Georgia (or California for that matter) sun.

A great match with most foods, terrific with baked cod fillets stuffed with crabmeat, shrimp, cracker crumbs and lemon butter.

Update 8/11/2016: My how times have changed. Back when I wrote the above 14 years ago, Summerfest was one of the very few lagers Sierra Nevada produced; certainly it was the only widely available one. Today, Sierra Nevada lagers are commonplace, though certainly not common in quality.

Spying the beer on the draft list at my local Taco Mac one fine Thursday night, I ordered one up and...got something else. They had brought me an Otra Vez instead and seemed astonished I knew it was the wrong beer. To which I could only reply...Do you know who I am? The error was corrected and I was then able to enjoy my mug of this longtime favorite, crisp malty, grassy hoppy and perfect for Summer enjoyment. And just $5 for a 20-ounce draft at that, and $8.99 a six-pack in bottles.

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

(G)=Growler

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