30th Anniversary - Grand Cru
a beauty in the glass. a deep ruby amber color with a thick khaki head that sticks around and laces well. this is how beer should look. the aroma has got lots of that familiar sierra nevada hop profile with citrus and pine. there is a more subdued maltiness underneath the hops with a peanut brittle-y caramel and toffee character, and i also pick up some vanilla from the oak. the flavor is a great combination of the three beers this is made out of. you can really taste how they meshed together. caramel and toffee mingle with a just a touch of darker coffee malt before transitioning into some dark barelywine type dark berry fruitiness. the oak seems to have function to smooth out some of the edges and add a little creamy vanilla complexity to the equation. the substantial bitterness is backed up by grapefruit rind hop flavor with touches of pine, just as in the aroma. the mouthfeel, while somewhat coursely bubbled comes off smoother and creamier than all it's component beers but the pale ale, which i would say it's comparable to, but with a fuller body. overall, a hell of a beer, a more refined beer then the sum of it's parts. a fitting end to the anniversary beer series on many levels. i might pick up another because this seems like a good candidate for the cellar.