Name – Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary – Fritz and Ken’s Ale
Country – United States
Type – American Imperial Stout
Appearance – Poured a pitch black color with a huge light brown head. The head stuck around for quite awhile.
Smell – Coffee and chocolate are the biggest scents you get. There is a slight hoppiness you get in the nose as well.
Taste – A blend of coffee and chocolate right up front. But the coffee does seem to overpower a bit more. There is an ever so slight hoppy flavor in there as well but coffee is the main thing I get.
This is the first of a line of beers coming out from Sierra Nevada to celebrate their 30th Anniversary. It is brewed with fellow long time brewer from Anchor Brewing Company Fritz Maytag. I know some of you may ask this so the answer is yes. Fritz Maytag is a part of the Maytag family that makes appliances but he is known for helping to keep Anchor going during the rough spells when Bud and Miller dominated beer markets in the country. The beer itself is good but has a little too much coffee presence for my liking. The bottle says it is perfect for aging so I might get another bottle just for that purpose. And we shall see what the future brings for it. Congrats to Sierra Nevada on 30 years and may they have many, many more!
Overall Grade – B
2 Comments
I have to disagree slightly with this rating. One of my favorite beers from Sierra in a long while. A solid A for me. I do think aging it will mellow out a bit of the coffee and alcohol. However, by the looks of your picture you seemed to have Jimmed** the beer quite severely.
**To Jim, Jimmed, Jimming – Term used to describe a bad pour in which there is way to much head. Coined from Jim Bast at Funky Buddha who after 3 years at Buddha can still not properly pour a beer.
April 15, 2010 at 9:29 amHAHA. I am quite familiar with Jimming a beer thanks to Kevin and Joe. Just to stick up for myself a bit, I poured this exactly how I normally pour any of my beers into that glass and it just took off. 🙂
April 15, 2010 at 9:53 am