Review Date 1/20/2013
Try? Re-buy?
You, oh ever exuberant beer enthusiast, likely know all about Sierra Nevada’s Beer Camp. Chances are you’ve seen the 12-packs of Best of Beer Camp selections sold, three bottles each of four different brews, in your favorite beer store. Maybe you’ve even bought one or two. But did you ever wonder about the tale behind Beer Camp? And just what happens to all those beers between the lucky few that end up in the samplers?
Fear not, dear reader. For as Paul Harvey used to say, you’re about to learn the rest of the story.
Sierra Nevada holds Beer Camp once a year at their Chico, California brewery. To attend, you only need make a convincing video stating your case as to why you should be one of the lucky few that get to go and make beer. If you’re selected to attend, your entry will get a number designation, a cool name, and maybe, just maybe, be one of the four selections chosen to be included in the 12-pack sampler.
Of course, not all entries can make it to store shelves, but there are other ways your beer can attain notoriety. Case in point: Sierra Nevada Beer Camp 88 Hop Secret 644 Red Wheat IPA. This is a beer that you won’t find in the 12-packs. You will find it, though, in Taco Mac Restaurants in the southeast, at least for a short time.
Hop Secret 644 is the invention of Taco Mac’s own beer director, Fred Crudder. Fred’s job is to travel the country and world in search of new and exciting beers to be featured at one of the various Taco Mac locations in Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Sorry, but Taco Mac is not accepting applications for Fred’s successor at this time.
Fred also oversees allocation of the beers to the restaurants. Each location features over 100 taps, plus big-screen sports and some of the best hot wings you’ll find south of Buffalo.
My journey with Hop Secret 644 started a week before its actual arrival. I was seated at the bar at my local Canton Taco Mac on a Friday night, whiling away the evening with a Red Brick Cherry Chocolate Porter. I happened to notice a placard announcing the tapping of Hop Secret 644 the following Friday at 6 PM. I had received an e-mail from Taco Mac about this, but the placard served as a form reminder that I needed to be at Taco Mac the following Friday.
And so I was. When I arrived, the usual Friday swarm of patrons had not yet descended on the restaurant, and so I bellied up to the bar to sit next to none other than the man of the hour, Fred Crudder. I recognized him from the Taco Mac Brewniversity newsletters, of course, and passed a pleasant few hours chatting with him and another beer enthusiast.
The first beer over which we conversed was, of course, the Hop Secret 644. Thirteen Taco Macs received kegs of this beer, my local Canton store being only the second overall to tap it on January 11th. Fred said he was looking for a smooth and easy drinking IPA with this beer, with good hop aroma but not as much bitterness as the typical Sierra Nevada beer is known for.
The beer has 7.5% alcohol by volume and 48 IBUs. It’s brewed with Two row pale, wheat, Patagonia Especial, and chocolate malts. Simcoes are used for bittering hops, with Centennial & the new Hop 644 as aroma hops. Hop 644, Centennial & Amarillo are the dry hops.
Sierra Nevada Beer Camp 88 Hop Secret 64 Red Wheat IPA pours to ahazy orange amber color with a thick creamy head formation and a pleasant resiny hop nose. As I sip, I got a light touch of chewy malt up front that’s quickly attenuated by some wheaty tartness. Passion fruit hints soon emerge, followed by citrus and resin aroma. The beer becomes more resiny in the finish where it's joined by a gentle hop bitterness and alcohol warmth.
The beer has good hop burps, always the hallmark of a fine IPA.
I very much enjoyed this beer, quite reasonable at about $6 a pint. Enjoying it with the architect was an added bonus. I think Fred hit the target with what he was aiming for, a drinkable, hoppy IPA that does not overpower. As I type, you still have time to try it if you haven’t, as a few Taco Mac locations have yet to tap their kegs:
1/21/2013- Taco Mac Lindbergh 1/22/2013- Taco Mac Duluth 1/23/2013- Taco Mac Woodstock 1/28/2013- Taco Mac Suwanee 1/29/2013- Taco Mac Virginia-Highland 1/30/2013- Taco Mac Crababble (Last keg in GA! Help kill the keg in 15 minutes!) 2/4/2013- Taco Mac Southpark (Charlotte) 2/5/2013- Taco Mac Huntersville (Charlotte)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