About
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. was founded in 1979, with founders Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi expanding their homebrewing hobby into a brewery. Sierra Nevada is considered one of the earliest and most influential breweries which spawned the craft beer movement of the 1980s-90s.
Part of the group
7.1/10
—
Appearance 7
Aroma 7.5
Flavor 7
Texture 7
Overall 7
Lots of caramel in this one. Comes off almost like their Bigfoot in a sense. There's plenty of grapefruit and caramelized pine resin here. Pours clear golden with decent head. Bittersweet finish. Tap at Churchkey. I remember liking other Hoptimums more than than this year's.
Tried
from Draft
at
ChurchKey
on 06 Aug 2026
at 21:52
8/10
—
Appearance 7
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 9
Overall 8
hazy golden colour, large, dense ivory-like white head; aroma of grape, grapefruit, orange peel oily, tangery, and some celery notes; hoppy taste with similar notes to the aroma; good one!
Tried
from Can
at
Csak a Jó Sör - Only Good Beer
on 06 Aug 2026
at 20:26
7/10
—
Appearance 7
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 7
Overall 7
Lemon peel and pine. Pours clear golden with pretty good head. Light bitter end. Pleasant. Tap at Churchkey.
Tried
from Draft
at
ChurchKey
on 06 Aug 2026
at 20:10
7.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7.5
Flavor 8
Texture 7
Overall 7.5
Gold body with good white head. Citrus and evergreen aroma. Hoppy taste with fruit notes. Good body, fruity finish.
Tried
from Can
at
Saraveza
on 04 Aug 2026
at 20:30
8.1/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8.5
Texture 8
Overall 8
12oz bottle. Pours clear deep gold with a white head. Loads of caramelized orange rind, grapefruit peels, and resins on the nose. Flavour has a great sticky malt base, loads of caramel, and the hops have lots of resinous pine, and caramelized citrus peels. Lightly bitter on the finish with some boozy heat as well. Very nice.
Tried
from Bottle
from
John's Marketplace - SE Powell
on 02 Aug 2026
at 23:04
7.5/10
—
Appearance 7
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 7
Overall 8
Can from Nugget Market in Woodland, CA. Pours clear amber with a moderate white head. Aroma of lightly bready/toffee with light spice notes. Med body or so. Flavor is the aroma with the additional presence of strong grass/spice. Toffee seems strong, but there's more than enough bitterness to keep it down. Really good Okto.
Tried
from Can
from
Nugget Market - Woodland
on 31 Jul 2026
at 23:13
6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
Tried
from Can
from
Horrocks Farm Market
on 31 Jul 2026
at 19:39
5.1/10
—
Appearance 3
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 6
Wow, I was pretty sure I rated this before? But I see it was added about a year ago, must be newer, oh well. Its a 8.4 oz skinny can for a buck on the clearance shelf, I guess that's a quarter liter? Pour is lighter pale and nearly clear. Ever so so slight haze. Maybe some farmy sweeter hops on nose, just barely. Pretty good co2 level. Yes some pils sharpness there on the taste but its well controlled and better than most excessively sharp domestic pils. Civilized and easy to drink. Yes, pretty much in line with the old country. Whoops! before I knew it, I downed the can. Not bad! Not as good as Portsmouth pilsner, Coal Tipple Pigeon nor Erie Hard Cock; but its pretty darn good!
Tried
from Can
from
JR's Beer Warehouse
on 31 Jul 2026
at 17:21
8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
From a 12oz can deep golden pour, bright lively white head. Lots of fresh grapefruit and light piney notes. Clean fresh finish.
Tried
from Can
on 31 Jul 2026
at 02:34
7.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7.5
Texture 8
Overall 8
Really nice festbier this year, blurring the lines with a märzen by having a sweeter, toastier malt base against a bright floral hop bitterness. Excellent beer.
Tried
from Can
on 30 Jul 2026
at 12:07