A few months ago (I can’t recall exactly when) I first learned of Sierra Nevada’s plans for their 2014 Beer Camp Sampler. This isn’t the first year, of course, that they’ve done a Beer Camp 12-pack, and I look forward to the variety of beers they deliver, each a special formulation by a homebrewer. At least that’s usually the case, anyway. For 2014, Sierra Nevada wanted to do something a little differently.

Hence, Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Across America. This time around, the sampler would in fact offer 12 unique brews, each a collaboration with a highly regarded brewery. The beers would be brewed at Sierra Nevada’s two facilities: Chico, California, and Mills River, North Carolina. More than an eclectic gathering of special beers, this sampler shines through as a symbol of the collective spirit craft brewers hold, a spirit of respect and admiration for finely crafted beer that transcends the competitive spirit.

The 12 beers in the sampler include (from the Sierra Nevada Website):

•Allagash Brewing Company, Portland, Maine -- Myron’s Walk Belgian-Style Pale Ale

•Asheville Brewers Alliance, Asheville, N.C. -- Tater Ridge Scottish Ale

•Ballast Point Brewing Company, San Diego, Calif. -- Electric Ray India Pale Lager

•Bell’s Brewery, Inc., Kalamazoo, Mich. -- Maillard’s Odyssey Imperial Dark Ale

•Cigar City Brewing, Tampa, Fla. -- Yonder Bock Tropical Maibock (CAN)

•Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Paso Robles, Calif. -- Torpedo Pilsner

•New Glarus Brewing Company, New Glarus, Wis. -- There and Back English-Style Bitter

•Ninkasi Brewing Company, Eugene, Ore. -- Double Latte Coffee Milk Stout

•Oskar Blues Brewery, Longmont, Colo./Brevard, N.C. -- CANfusion Rye Bock (CAN)

•Russian River Brewing Company, Santa Rosa, Calif. --Yvan the Great Belgian-Style Blonde

•3 Floyds Brewing Company, Munster, Ind. -- Chico King Pale Ale

•Victory Brewing Company, Downingtown, Pa. -- Alt Route Altbier

It’s Torpedo Pilsner Hoppy Pilsner that I’m drinking tonight, and more on that in a minute. First, though, I had to find the sampler, and I knew that wasn’t going to be an easy task. I e-mailed Sherlocks in Kennesaw about it, but didn’t get a response. Total Wine couldn’t tell me when it was coming in. I only found out when pictures started appearing in Honest Craft Beer Reviews, and then I made it a mission to get a 12-pack. Luckily, Sherlocks had just gotten them in, and I raced there in time to score (along with a bonus 13^th bomber of a Beer Camp West Coast Double IPA).

The price was not as welcome a surprise, however: $25 is steep indeed, and $5 more than I paid for last year’s Beer Camp 12-pack. That was overpriced as well in my book. Prices seem to vary across the country according to accounts in Honest Craft Beer Reviews, with prices as low as $17 and as high as $30 being reported. $25 seems to be the median price, and as much as I complain about price it’s important to note you are paying for 12 unique singles here, and that is a mitigating factor. Then too, these aren’t beers to pop in succession over a weekend, but to be savored over a series of nights one by one.

My advice: don’t let the high price keep you from this one.

OK, now to the Torpedo Pilsner Hoppy Pilsner that I’m drinking tonight. This is the fourth bottle (or can for that matter) that I’ve popped from the sampler. I'm officially a third of the way through these beers! The plan had been to drink them in order of strength, smallest to largest. But our own Tom Beer Whisperer Mulvihill teased me awhile back with the notions of sweet potato in beer in a brew that included them. Since Tater Ridge also used that tuber as an ingredient, it was the first to be popped. From there, though, I’m going in order of alcohol content, and Torpedo Pilsner is second lowest by that criteria.

Torpedo Pilsner is a collaborative effort with California's Firestone Walker. Sierra Nevada says this of it on the website:

Torpedo Pilsner is a hop-forward take on the crisp classic lager. We and the folks at Firestone Walker share a passion for New Zealand hop varietals, so we loaded our legendary Hop Torpedo with southern hemisphere hops for a fruity, floral twist on the pilsner style.

Ingredients from the website:

Yeast -Lager

Bittering Hops -Southern Cross, Pacifica

Finishing Hops -Motueka, Southern Cross

Malts -Pilsner, Acidulated

Torpedo Pilsner has an alcohol content of 5.3% by volume and 45 IBUs. Mine was bottled on 5/29/14, I assume at the Mills River facility.

Beer Camp Torpedo Pilsner Hoppy Pilsner pours to a bright golden color with a thick foamy tan head and a very appetizing, grassy hop nose of citrusy lemons and grassy herbs. A lively effervescence streams bubbles from bottom to top, and a good Brussels lacing clings to the sides of the glass. Taking a sip, I get crisp, biscuity malt up front followed by a big biting grassy herbal hop aroma and a sharp, lingering dry bitterness at the last. This is not a complex beer, but it is a textbook example of a hoppy German pils with just the right maltiness, grassy German style hop aroma and amazing dryness.

With all the talk about ditching German noble hops, the end result does not seem all that dissimilar to a good German-style pils. You can see Jever Pils or Victory Prima as two examples of the style that throw a lot of hops at you, just as Torpedo Pilsner does. The main difference I am getting from the New Zealand hops is a citrusy lemon flavor somewhat like Sorachi Ace impart. Southern Cross and Motueka, the aroma hops here, are known for citrusy flavors after all. In fact, Sierra Nevada uses New Zealand Motueka and Southern Cross hops in their Southern Hemisphere Harvest Fresh Hop IPA.

Sierra Nevada will be doing festivals to celebrate Beer Camp Across America, and you can read more about them here.

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



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