#82 Sierra Nevada - Estate Ale

My brother and dad and I made our way out to the Bay Area Craft Beer Festival.  It was a decent, fledgling festival with lots of good beer from around the area.  They have a good deal of kinks to work out before next time, but they're on the right track.  I'd tasted most of the beers offered at the festival, but came upon a few new gems:

John, Jack & I posing for pics at the festival with a chatty, inebriated wingnut.

Sierra Nevada was not offering tastes of a pale ale in a green bottle, but they were offering their Estate Ale, a beer made exclusively of ingredients produced at Sierra Nevada's Chico estate.

Appearance: Crisp clear amber beer, a modicum of whitish head
Aroma: Subtle floral and spice hop aroma
Palate: Lovely floral flavor, Quite smooth and easy drinking, back palate bitterness, mouthwatering
Sharp bitter notes.

This is certainly a beer that harkens back to the old standby Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.  It's a bit sharper in it's hop bitterness than the original, but seemed a more refined, finished beer.  Very good! Highly recommended.
9 out of 10