Sierra Nevada Beer Camp #80 is here!

The #80 Beer Camper Posse!

Wow, the stork has just delivered the beer I brewed with my awesome fellow Beer Campers at Sierra Nevada from June 20-22, 2012,to Atlanta! I’m talking about the Sierra Nevada El Pluorado Beer Camp #80 that will be poured for the first time in the Southeast at Hotoberfest, on Saturday, October 6th. I could talk about the entire experience hour by hour (trust me, I remember every minute!) but I am going to be short and sweet with this one: The experience was unforgettable and I learned a lot to sit down with a dozen bar managers, homebrewers, entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts from all over the country and negotiate what kind of beer we wanted to make. Trading ideas at a long conference table for a couple of hours discussing everything from the malt to the hops, ABV, mouthfeel, and color, we collectively came up with the El Pluorado—an El Dorado single-hopped golden ale fused with their native pluots-a plum and apricot hybrid—at 5.4 percent ABV and 39 IBUs. I have yet to try it, so I will make sure that is the first sip of the 250-plus beers I could choose from at Hotoberfest.

Sierra Nevada Co-Founder Ken Grossman chillin'.

I wish any beer lover the opportunity to experience a future Beer Camp at this incredible brewery run by, well, incredible people. 

I thank Sierra Nevada (especially Chad, Ken, Terence, Brian, Scott, Lance…aw hell, everyone!), all of the #80 Campers, the people of Chico, California, and every ingredient we used. I think these photos will narrate a good part of my trip. Trust me, I have a ton more, but, hey, you get the picture.

Simply put, Sierra Nevada is gangster.

Now for the flicks. Awww snap!

This is truly one of my favorite photos. My man J.D. just left a murder scene and...
wait, that was another time. This is when he was slicing up the blood red interiors of the pluot before adding them to the batch. 

Our beer tasting expertise was tested in the lab. A worker slid open that door and ushered in three brews. We had the pick the one that slightly off in some way or another. I wanted one of those cool frosted glasses! This was awesome.

I passed every one of the tests with flying colors for bragging rights.
Why wasn't this one of my exams at Cornell???

The future brewery manager of Sierra Nevada's Mills River, North Carolina site, Brian Grossman, and I celebrate the discovery of Sierra Nevada's secret stash of their extremely limited collaboration with Boulevard Brewery called Terra Incognita. It was crafted for Washington D.C.'s 2012 Savor and it was lip smackin'! Thanks B-Diddy!

Come on, you know I always represent when I travel out of state. I whipped out the Terrapin Phlux Capacitor Side Project for the whole crew to sip on after doing some lab testing. They appreciated the Georgia-born surprise. 

The name game. After brewing all day, we were working out the details of what to name our baby while we got our sip on in the lab. We used this spelling as a base and then it was a wrap!

Go green! After brewing, we all got on Sierra Nevada's famous 10-seat Bar Cycle, sipped some brews, and pedaled away to tour the plant. That was nuts! And yes, these are bottles of the Pale Ale. Beautiful ain't it?

Cold case. It was like Willy Wonka in that joint. Cans were also running. 

Speaking of running, I gotta bounce and do another episode of my Cruisin' For A Brewsin' show. This time, it's Hotoberfest and it's going to be bananas. This is especially true since the El Pluorado is getting poured for the first time. I hope it's bangin'! Stay tuned...

Cheers!

Ale