A few months ago, Daniel Williams, beer director and general manager at Iron Horse Tap Room, flew out to Chico, California along with his counterpart from Rocket Bar to attend Sierra Nevada's vaunted Beer Camp.
Beer Camp, for those of you not familiar, is more or less craft beer geek heaven. An experience filled with tours, tastings, oh, and a chance to collaborate with other campers to come up with a unique beer.
Williams, on the Iron Horse website writes:
Over 3 wonderful days we toiled and struggled and drank way, waaaaaay to much, and helped the genius brewers over there come up with the Hop Syndicate Imperial Pilsner. Mostly, we just said what kind of beer we’d like to drink and those mad scientists made it happen.
Anyways, the beer showed up on our doorstep last week like a gigantic, booze filled orphan and we are going to share it with all of you.
Starting this Tuesday, September 25, only at Iron Horse and Rocket Bar you can get the EXTREMELY limited edition Hop Syndicate Imperial Pilsner (7.2% abv) for $5 a pint during happy hour and $7 a pint regular price. There are only about 6 kegs between the two of us, so get it it while you can.
We’ll be pouring the first beer at 5:00 and when it’s gone, it’s really gone.
Hop Syndicate Imperial Pilsner is Beer Camp beer #76. Here are some stats:
- ABV: 7.2%
- IBU: 52
- Bitter hops: Simcoe
- Aroma hops: Cascade, Centennial, Citra
- Torpedo hops: Simcoe, Citra, Columbus, Amarillo
- Malt: Pilsner, Pale, Vienna, Acidulated
- Yeast: Lager
Here's Sierra Nevada's take on the beer: "Inspired by the German tradition but influenced by the American love for hops. It's something we call an IPL – India Pale Lager! Extraordinarily light in color, this delicate looking beer hides the full force of hop flavor within. Torpedoed with Simcoe, Citra, Columbus, and Amarillo hops, it features a profoundly fruity aroma with notes of citrus, apricot, and pineapple.
What's our take on this? Probably a delicious beer for hopheads. I see no way that couldn't be true. But don't expect much in the way of thinking about a Pilsner or a traditional lager. The light body for this makes it a hop-conveyance device but probably not too balanced. Not a knock against it at all, we love hops as much as the next beer geek, after all.
