Posts Tagged ‘Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.’

12 Beers of X-Mas: Ovila Saison

Monday, January 2nd, 2012

Tonight’s beer was brewed by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California. This is a collaboration beer, but unlike any collaboration I’m aware of. The nominal collaborator was the Abbey of New Clairvaux just up Highway 99 in Vina, California, but all the brewing experience rests with Sierra Nevada.Ovila Saison To the credit of the monks at New Clairvaux, they do make wine.

The Ovila Project, as it is called, is a series of three Belgian abbey-style ales. The label art is inspired by Santa Maria de Ovila, a twelfth-century monastery that was purchased by William Randolph Hearst in 1931 and shipped to California (though never rebuilt). Part of the profits from the sale of this beer will go to the Abbey of New Clairvaux, to help them in their quest to reconstruct the abbey building on the grounds of their monastery.

I was fortunate enough to find a bottle of the saison at Beer Crazy. I doubt I will be lucky enough to see the dubbel or quad.

The Ovila Saison pours an opalescent golden straw with a creamy, thick, long-lasting white head. The nose is light and playful, with floral and mild citric aromas. Earthy hops follow with an unexpected assertiveness. Clean malt character rounds out the very intriguing progression of aroma.

Earthiness leads the flavor as with any good saison. A rich herbal taste combines with a bit of citrus. A bready sweet malt flavor supports the balance. My only complaint about this beer would be the palate: it is somehow simultaneously thin and cloying.

+Ovila Saison

4.0 (5-9-7-3-16)

(p.s. Somebody needs to tell their webmaster that the menu images for all three styles say “Abbey Dubbel”.)

12 Beers of X-Mas: Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

Sierra Nevada Celebration AleAll good things must eventually come to an end. For instance, every night at 2 AM. Or The Riches. But in this case I mean my coverage of the 2008 holiday season. Tonight I am having the twelfth beer of X-Mas (does twelfth look strange to anyone else?): from Sierra Nevada Brewing in Chico, California comes their annual Christmas beer Celebration Ale.

If you couldn’t tell from the picture I shook this one up a little bit on my way home. Oops. Anyway, it poured a lightly hazy deep amber, almost tawny. The head is thick and creamy, with the color and feel of champagne. The nose is strongly hoppy with floral notes of potpourri and a citric herbal aroma like lemon grass. Playful and light yet complicated, the aroma can actually stop you on your way to take a drink.

The flavor is at first quite bitter, but it takes only a moment for the tongue to acclimate. Soon earthy and herbal hop flavors emerge, decorated with lemon citrus notes. A strangely light but almost cloying sweetness follows. Some malt is apparent as well: caramel and a bit of grainy flavor. The palate is thick but not too much so, the bitterness robust but not too much so, the sweetness cloying but not to much so. This beer is remarkably mild for its 6.8% legs.

+Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale

3.8 (4-8-7-4-15)