Sierra Navada Pale Ale

[GUB]

Found some the other day at my local Woolys liquor. Surprised to seem them there. Date was BB Nov or Dec 2012 and the two stubbies I grabbed were tasty.

 

[Spiesy]

AFAIK the SNPA is imported by Phoenix and they had to agree to ship the beer in a very particular way to get the right to import it. SN wouldn't allow it to be shipped this far so all previous imports were "grey". The stuff at Dan's would have been shipped as per specifications. I've had tonnes of the stuff and never had a bad one, certainly not to the extent of making the claim above.

You're a lucky man. 95% of the imports I've had here have been absolute rubbish, especially compared to how they should taste.

 

[Jay Cee]

Mrs bought a 6er a few days ago with a best before date of 08/09/12. Still no clues as to the date format. Haven't bothered trying it, because on all other occasions I previously thought is was a bit of a characterless pale ale. But whatever the date format,, it shows that there's bottles out there with plenty of time left.

Also a phoenix import, but sourced from an independent store, not Dan's.

How is the kellerweisen as an SN import sold through Dan's? Almost bought a 6 today, but opted for a case of Hoppy Hefe and a few various singles instead. And is the Bigfoot any good? I'm reluctant to spend money on imported beer that's substandard.

 

[bum]

Still no clues as to the date format.

day/month/year

 

[Spiesy]

being a product of USA, would it not be: mm/dd/yy ?

 

[bum]

Unless they think the bottle of Torpedo I've got is gonna go bad in the 14th month of the year, no.

Damn these lousy Smarch winters!

 

[Jay Cee]

That makes sense. SN have made a label specifically for Australian consumers, so it is logical that the date should be in dd/mm/yy format.

 

[pbrosnan]

You're a lucky man. 95% of the imports I've had here have been absolute rubbish, especially compared to how they should taste.

95% is s pretty high failure rate, better give up buying imports I suppose. When you say "compared to how they should taste" I presume you've got some sort of benchmark? Is it compared to how you've tasted them at source, e.g SF or Munich or Brussels or wherever?

 

[jkirky]

The best description of what I tasted, was that the SNPA was like a crisp coopers sparkling, just without the POR backbone. The level of hop flavor and aroma would be no greater than the coopers, however... Even had a soapy characteristic.

Put bluntly, besides the claim that the importers have to handle the product in specific ways blah blah, what I tasted has obviously suffered greatly from the time and travel, hence in my mind something has gone wrong, which also appears to be supported by quite a few members of AHB.

I will taste another soon, just to cross reference my original findings..

 

[Snowdog]

Have to say I haven't had a "bad" one yet, be they the greys from 5th Element, or the legits from Archive where they're kept chilled, Dan's, and 1st Choice. Granted they weren't the heavy hop-hitters they were when I had them in Seattle, but still a nice brew. I will say I have seen then stacked outside in the sun here at Dan's in Albany Creek, so I assume they get the abuse after they leave Phoenix. And the Oz labeled ones are DD/MM/YY whereas the greys were MM/DD/YY.

 

[bowie in space]

The stuff at Dans is a craps shoot. I bought a sixpack in NYC once and it was like there were dry hops in the bottles. Big piney citrus burst. $9 a sixpack too, just off Broadway.

I've never been to the US and have only had one stubby of SNPA bought from Dan's at Wynnum, and it was just how you described it. One of the tastiest beers I've ever had.

 

[mudd]

Tried to send Sierra Nevada a link to this page could't without a US phone number. No email address either on there website.
I'm sure they have some influence over how their product is shipped to OZ. Worst case they can stop shipping it, better yet make it here under licence.

Surely somone has a contact that could get the word to them.

 

[jkirky]

Tried to send Sierra Nevada a link to this page could't without a US phone number. No email address either on there website.
I'm sure they have some influence over how their product is shipped to OZ. Worst case they can stop shipping it, better yet make it here under licence.

Surely somone has a contact that could get the word to them.

My thoughts exactly... I know that is really is a great beer, however for a range of probable reasons, the stubby I drank from Dans was far from a fair representation of the beer. Hence, Sierra Nevada should know that their reputation is ultimately being tarnished through either poor shipment regiments or poor storage from the retailers.

I was expecting a hop burst but instead got marginally improved coopers- something is seriously wrong there...

 

[Liam_snorkel]

Tried to send Sierra Nevada a link to this page could't without a US phone number. No email address either on there website.
I'm sure they have some influence over how their product is shipped to OZ. Worst case they can stop shipping it, better yet make it here under licence.

Surely somone has a contact that could get the word to them.

It has been mentioned in this thread and a few others, that SN beers are shipped here by Phoenix in refrigerated containers, so we can assume that any damage to the beer is caused once it changes hands into local distributors ie woolworths if you bought it from Dan Murpheys. How often do you drive past a major bottle-o and see a pallet of beer sitting out in the sun in the car park?

 

[Nick JD]

Unless they think the bottle of Torpedo I've got is gonna go bad in the 14th month of the year, no.

Damn these lousy Smarch winters!

Me and the guy at Dans reckoned that since it had the "10c in SA" thing that it'd be dd/mm/yy, but I wasn't convinced until now. Handy.

My local Dans has the torpedos on the shelf. :angry:

 

[Spiesy]

95% is s pretty high failure rate, better give up buying imports I suppose. When you say "compared to how they should taste" I presume you've got some sort of benchmark? Is it compared to how you've tasted them at source, e.g SF or Munich or Brussels or wherever?

Not exactly at the source, but I visit the USA 1-2 times per year, mainly visiting California.

 

[Spiesy]

The best description of what I tasted, was that the SNPA was like a crisp coopers sparkling, just without the POR backbone. The level of hop flavor and aroma would be no greater than the coopers

SNPA should taste and smell very different to a Cooper's Sparkling.

 

[eamonnfoley]

SNPA has a nice classic hop flavour. But by no means huge if that is what you are expecting.