30th Anniversary - Grand Cru - Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

Trueant1

Minnesota

4.6/5  rDev +9%
look: 5 | smell: 3 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

Opens with a loud pop. Pours a gigantic pancake batter type head that takes it's time to wear down . Lots of lacing sticking to the sides of the glass. Awsome dark amber color.

Smells earthy and warm. Leather, hints of booze and smokes. Nice.

My first sip knocked me off my chair. Huge bourbon and boozy flavors up front with an exceptional amounts of vanilla smoothness. The alcoholic flavor profiles add a lot of "heat" to this brew. Bitter as hell, as well. Probably from the additional dry hopping. This bitterness stays in your mouth for a long long time.

Wet, sticky mouthfeel. Mild carbonation. Huge bitterness is drenched by the sticky malts. This beer is one of the best sippers I have ever enjoyed.

Serving type: bottle

02-15-2011 04:12:09 | More by Trueant1

ChrisMon02

Ohio

4/5  rDev -5.2%

06-19-2013 02:18:38 | More by ChrisMon02

b-one

California

4/5  rDev -5.2%

06-19-2013 02:05:43 | More by b-one

TheBeeraholic

Ontario (Canada)

4.25/5  rDev +0.7%

06-16-2013 15:36:35 | More by TheBeeraholic

bca115

California

4.5/5  rDev +6.6%

06-10-2013 19:16:10 | More by bca115

tadmuchowski

District of Columbia

4/5  rDev -5.2%

06-09-2013 22:35:39 | More by tadmuchowski

TheBeerAlmanac

Kentucky

4.25/5  rDev +0.7%

06-08-2013 15:35:34 | More by TheBeerAlmanac

DeutschesBier

Maryland

4.25/5  rDev +0.7%

06-07-2013 19:52:34 | More by DeutschesBier

pinnser

Colorado

4/5  rDev -5.2%

06-05-2013 23:47:21 | More by pinnser

TheBrewo

Michigan

4.13/5  rDev -2.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

We crack the cage and cork, pouring a brew of rich, ruby mahogany into our Founders snifters. It holds a three finger head of creamy, cakey orange-tinged cream, showing wonderful retention. This pops away at a slow pace, leaving thick and cratered lacing around the glass as it goes. A thick chill haze is noted, with no sediment. Carbonation appears to be slow and mild. The nose is rich with caramel and pale malt roast, sweet toast, and thick and sticky buttery diacetyls. Toffees, molasses depth, dirty saltiness, crystallized ginger, wet cornmeal, light metallics, softer milk chocolates, fresh cotton, floral hops, light booziness, vegetal tomatoes, and crumbly, biscuity warmth round things off. Our first impression is that it is nowhere near as sweet as you would expect, with the resiny, green qualities of the hops drying us out more than any other beer in recent memory. As we sip, the taste opens with rich caramel sweetness, plum and raisin sugars, heavy buttery diacetyls, spicy herbal hop bite, phenolic plastics, black pepper, green grassiness, and spicy fumes of alcohol. Peaking is a blend of toasted marshmallow sweetness, continued butters, vinyl, spicy booze, herbal and green bark hoppiness, resiny sap, maple sugars, clovey phenols, and biting oaky musk. The end comes with the bitterness of mustard greens, thick caramel sugars, tannic dryness, nectary hop sugars, plum, light roast and smoke of cooked caramels, corny adjuncts, clean brown sugars, dusty pale malts, and PCV piping plastics. The aftertaste breathes of Tootsie Roll sweetness, moderately bittered chocolates, vegetal mineral, graphite, woody mossiness, phenolic plastics, acorn earthiness, herbal and faintly citric hoppiness, gritty roast, fig sugars, honeysuckle, and fusel alcohols. The body is thick and full, and the carbonation is medium, but puts up a hearty froth and cream all around the mouth. Each sip gives fantastic slurp, sip, smack, and pop, and again, generously coats the mouth with foam. This quickly gives way to a resiny, woody, yeasty, bone dryness, sucking all moisture from the lips, tongue, and palate. The abv is appropriate, and the beer sips rather easily.

Overall, what we enjoyed most about this beer was its appearance and its feel. The head remained for what was essentially the entire tasting, leaving foam to lace both the glass and the lip with each sip. This also contributed to the feel, which was happily creamy and frothy at the outset, with insanely drying, resiny slowness left across all of the mouth’s landmarks. The aroma and flavoring were both heavily malt forward at this point in the aging. While this pushed the hoppy balance back a bit, the bulk of the bitterness did, in fact, come from greenness of hops, and the bite of those barrels, despite their lower concentration to the final blend. This beer truly showcased the freshness and bigness of the Sierra Nevada accolades, offering a memory of an anniversary that won’t soon fade.

Serving type: bottle

05-27-2013 02:09:46 | More by TheBrewo

mikeincharleston

South Carolina

4/5  rDev -5.2%

05-26-2013 17:41:45 | More by mikeincharleston

InspectorBob

New Jersey

4.25/5  rDev +0.7%

05-20-2013 16:07:24 | More by InspectorBob

megamass

New Jersey

4.25/5  rDev +0.7%

05-18-2013 05:45:43 | More by megamass

cadaugherty

Illinois

4.25/5  rDev +0.7%

05-09-2013 00:08:27 | More by cadaugherty

brewdlyhooked13

Ohio

4.71/5  rDev +11.6%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 5

Winding down an awesome beer tasting night (corked bottles only) and thought I'd crack open another corker.

Appearance - cloudy, bubbly reddish amber. A finger of manila foam on top like melted ice cream. Nice lacing.

Aroma - sticky sweet orange and pineapple, bready malts creep in a bit after setup.

Taste - dark fruit and toasted bread open up the beer. Pineapple and mango at first, giving way to moderate bittering. A great toasty, coffee-like flavor flavor kicks in at the swallow and hangs around through the afterttaste. Oak on the aftertaste and into the finish, what a fun ride this beer is! Ends with dry lingering bitterness, oak, and toasted grain.

Mouthfeel - moderate carbonation and weight. Feels crisp without being too heavy for a strong ale.

Overall - wish I had bought a few more of these. Outstanding. Here's to the BCBT group, good beers tonight, guys.

Serving type: bottle

05-04-2013 02:59:32 | More by brewdlyhooked13

Lare453

Florida

4/5  rDev -5.2%

04-26-2013 01:37:45 | More by Lare453

Kelp

New Hampshire

4.25/5  rDev +0.7%

04-15-2013 05:57:01 | More by Kelp

Atomicskis5

Connecticut

4.25/5  rDev +0.7%

04-11-2013 02:50:50 | More by Atomicskis5

roblund

California

4/5  rDev -5.2%

04-10-2013 14:24:17 | More by roblund

ChiefHopHead

Texas

4.25/5  rDev +0.7%

04-02-2013 02:32:56 | More by ChiefHopHead

fox227

California

4.5/5  rDev +6.6%

03-23-2013 05:00:32 | More by fox227

InfernoBoss

California

4.5/5  rDev +6.6%

03-17-2013 07:39:02 | More by InfernoBoss

DaPan

Ontario (Canada)

4.75/5  rDev +12.6%

03-11-2013 20:59:57 | More by DaPan

603BeerMe

New Hampshire

5/5  rDev +18.5%

03-11-2013 16:51:27 | More by 603BeerMe

superspak

Michigan

4.43/5  rDev +5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

750 ml bottle into snifter, bottled on 10/8/2010. Pours extremely hazy deep ruby red color with a nice 1-2 finger dense cream colored head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Nice soapy lacing clings on the glass. Aromas of big orange, grapefruit, orange rind, pear, apple, caramel, pine, toast, toffee, brown sugar, floral, oak, light bourbon, and floral earthiness. Fantastic aromas with big balance and complexity of hop, malt, and oak notes. Taste of big orange, grapefruit, orange rind, caramel, pine, toast, toffee, floral, oak, brown sugar, brown bread, light bourbon, and floral hop earthiness. Light pine and citrus bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of citrus, caramel, pine, toast, toffee, brown bread, floral, oak, brown sugar, and floral earthiness on the finish for a while. Fantastic balance and complexity of hop and malt flavors; with a great subtle oak presence and moderate bitterness balancing the malt sweetness; and zero cloying sweetness present on the finish. Medium carbonation and fairly full bodied; with a creamy, slick, and lightly sticky mouthfeel that is great. Alcohol is extremely well hidden with only a slight warming noticed after the finish; very smooth to sip on. Overall this is an absolutely incredible American strong blended ale! Huge complexity and balance of hop and malt notes; and extremely smooth to sip on. An extremely awesome offering, top notch stuff as expected.

Serving type: bottle

03-07-2013 04:32:13 | More by superspak