The Bar Towel

In 2010, at a store near 3 Floyds, I found an Algonquin Light on the shelf that I had bottled in 1989. Super fresh!

Lots of weird reaction to the SN release in here.

It's $2.50 per bottle. Buy 1 and let your palate tell you if it's a 1.5 month old bottle of Pale Ale or a 15 month old bottle of Pale Ale. There's not a lot of risk involved.

Hopefully not this:

Ok so I caved and bought the Sierra Nevada and the code on the the label was blacked out but the code imprinted on the bottle was:

032515M0710

Which translated means bottled on March 25 2015 at the Mills River Plant at 0710 in the morning.

I opened the bottle and within seconds had to fend off a fruit fly, at least I think it was.

Don"t know if that"s a good thing or a bad thing?

I'll just throw in my 2 cents for whatever it's worth. Last year I grabbed some Sierra Nevada Pale Ale from Buffalo that was like 2 and half months old (I know should of looked at the date but I was in a rush), it was not horrible but it definitely tasted like the hops had faded. I grabbed 2 six packs today and have tried it..It is way better then what I got from buffalo..I can actually taste the hops, tasting great. I don't think it's old stock..seems pretty fresh so I don't think y'all should hesitate..grab it up,if you don't like the taste just return it.

Is it me, or is SN PA not worth the bother? I've had it numerous times in the US and never come away impressed. Maybe 5-10 years ago it would have been something, but now with GLB, muskoka and others pushing the IPA limit, it always struck me as a pedestrian beer...?

Masterplan wrote:Is it me, or is SN PA not worth the bother? I've had it numerous times in the US and never come away impressed. Maybe 5-10 years ago it would have been something, but now with GLB, muskoka and others pushing the IPA limit, it always struck me as a pedestrian beer...?

That's exactly how I feel. It was one of the gateway craft beers for me and I absolutely loved it back in 2008/2009. I went a few years without having it and had it on tap recently and didn't enjoy it at all.

Masterplan wrote:Is it me, or is SN PA not worth the bother? I've had it numerous times in the US and never come away impressed. Maybe 5-10 years ago it would have been something, but now with GLB, muskoka and others pushing the IPA limit, it always struck me as a pedestrian beer...?

I'd agree with this. I've had it numerous times in the states( draft and bottled)and yeah I enjoyed it but found it to be nothing special. Will I buy a 6 re here and there.... Probably, but I think we've got local options thT are just as tasty

Masterplan wrote:Is it me, or is SN PA not worth the bother? I've had it numerous times in the US and never come away impressed. Maybe 5-10 years ago it would have been something, but now with GLB, muskoka and others pushing the IPA limit, it always struck me as a pedestrian beer...?

it's the kind of beer that you probably had 10 years ago and went WOAH....
so there's sentiment.
i've never had one before simply because of Toronto availability and it wouldn't be a beer i'd seek out on a road trip or shopping spree. i imagine that i'd think it's a fine beer. but it's probably how Torontonians think of swiss chalet dipping sauce. you know, fond memories from your youth when you'd chug that stuff, but if you tried it for the first time today, you'd think it wasn't anything special

At Crossroads today, each individual bottle of SNPA is stickered with one of those little yellow Vintages stickers that reads "21/08/15". Rather inscrutable. Even the gal at the checkout said to me "now what could that mean?" Readers of Bar Towel know!

atomeyes wrote:

... it wouldn't be a beer i'd seek out on a road trip or shopping spree. i imagine that i'd think it's a fine beer.

That's pretty much my sentiment. You can buy this pretty cheap at any food or drug store in the States but you wouldn't blow your duty free allowance on it or pay the exchange plus taxes on it for a day trip but picking up a couple 6 pks at the LCBO on a 30C+ May day while barbecuing, it works for me.

The Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on shelf at the LCBO is extremely fresh, though the best before date actually shows the manufactured on date, not best before. It was a mix up on the production line which has since been corrected for the second shipment coming to the province. A lot of confusion out there, but the beer is tasting solid. No fault of the LCBO here, just an innocent mistake.

StrongKnock wrote:I'll just throw in my 2 cents for whatever it's worth. Last year I grabbed some Sierra Nevada Pale Ale from Buffalo that was like 2 and half months old (I know should of looked at the date but I was in a rush), it was not horrible but it definitely tasted like the hops had faded. I grabbed 2 six packs today and have tried it..It is way better then what I got from buffalo..I can actually taste the hops, tasting great. I don't think it's old stock..seems pretty fresh so I don't think y'all should hesitate..grab it up,if you don't like the taste just return it.

Yeah, it is nice and fresh, just a screw up on the label. Going down just fine right now.

Ukie wrote:

atomeyes wrote:

... it wouldn't be a beer i'd seek out on a road trip or shopping spree. i imagine that i'd think it's a fine beer.

That's pretty much my sentiment. You can buy this pretty cheap at any food or drug store in the States but you wouldn't blow your duty free allowance on it or pay the exchange plus taxes on it for a day trip but picking up a couple 6 pks at the LCBO on a 30C+ May day while barbecuing, it works for me.

or just get a local APA

Ukie wrote: *
I opened the bottle
and within seconds had to
fend off a fruit fly…
*

You Haiku-writing motherf*cler, Ukie!

You must have a Japanese gene way back somewhere in those Slavic roots of yours… Ypa!