Beer Tasting: Sierra Nevada Beer Camp

I've seen a few of my friends on Facebook drinking this beer, so I thought I'd give Beer Camp a taste.  Also, not too long ago I remember buying a 12-pack of Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale and remember being pleasantly surprised at how good that beer tasted- so my expectations for Sierra Nevada are high.

This particular Sierra Nevada beer is Beer Camp Across America.  The bottle reads "Join us to make this the largest craft beer celebration in history!"  The bottle-proclaimed beer style of this beer is a West Coast Double IPA.

I sought to learn more information about this "beer tour" and why I wasn't invited?  I see on the bottle this was in the summer of 2014.  So I traveled to the Sierra Nevada website to have a look.  Here is what I found.  Apparently there was a 7-city traveling beer festival.  The closest they came to Buffalo was Philadelphia, so that explains why I didn't really hear about the festival.  Below is a map of the festivals.  The other cities involved in this festival were: Chico (CA), San Diego (CA), Denver (CO), Chicago (IL), Mills River (NC), and Portland (ME).  Too bad Buffalo wasn't on the list!  But at least I could now explain what the bottle was referring to.

Sierra Nevada also released a really cool 12-pack where they had a bunch of different brewers all send in 1 beer to go in the pack.  You can find the details of the 12 different beers here.  To date I don't believe I've had any of these beers, and in fact the beer I am reviewing today isn't one of the 12 included in the mix pack.  I am assuming that Beer Camp must have been the advertisement beer?  But I'm really not sure.

Here is a picture of my Beer Camp:

Sierra Nevada Brewery: Beer Camp

ABV: 8.5%

Style: American Double / Imperial IPA

Beer Camp poured a hazy golden straw color with a full finger head.  Beer Camp has a floral/citrus smell mixed with a moderate hop presence.  The taste is bursting with citrus-flavored hops but the citrus goes away pretty quickly after swallowing.  There is also some malt presence and fruit left behind after swallowing.  But the citrus is really only there to bargain in an attempt to bargain with your palate and trick your brain into thinking that Beer Camp isn't as strong as 8.5%.  But it is.  I didn't really find that the citrus did a good job bargaining, but Beer Camp ended up being fairly well balanced for having a high ABV.

In summary, Beer Camp speaks of festivals past, a mysterious 12-pack that I'd like to find, and a balance of floral hops.

Beer Camp was purchased to Consumer's Beverages and is (ironically) the 2015 Edition is on the Beer Tour, but not this 2014 edition.  The 2015 edition is entitled "2015 Beer Camp Hoppy Lager".  I expect this will be out sometime in the summer.