Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Charlie, Fred & Ken's Imperial Helles Bock
Charlie Papazian and Fred Eckhart are the men who launched a thousand breweries. Their writing on the art of homebrewing and steadfast promotion of beer culture helped propel the craft brewing movement. Charlie and Fred agreed to work with us on this special ale in honor of our 30th anniversary. This Imperial Helles Bock is a testament to the ever-evolving brewer’s art. Bold yet balanced with distinct toasted malt character, moderate sweetness and clean and floral hops.
3.6
442 reviews
Chico, United States
Community reviews
Not quite as complex as thought. Like others that have remarked that it could be that it is does not stand up to aging and should be had fresh. Tastes of caramel and slight roasts with a spicyness.
Golden colored pour. Big white head. Lacing. Malty aroma. Huge grainy taste. Not bad.
(Backlog) Bottle. The look is golden in color, clear, and not much head. The smell is fruits, light, malts, and floral. The taste is malt, fruit, floral, and light.
I’ve had this a few times, time to review.
Golden with a persistent sheet of white foam and a brilliant clarity. Smells malty, sweet and light bread, tea, cola, candied pecans, touch of german yeast character, a touch of freshly cut alfalfa and a hint of rose. Flavor is floral: malts, slight oxidation, a bit of bread and caramel. There is a ton of flower character in here for me with rose hips, a little bit of hibiscus and orange peel likeness in here. I like the complexity of the flavor, delicate as it is. Medium bodied with limited carb and an almost dry finish. Nice beer, glad how this one has evolved.
Sample from bottle @sbwf13. Deep golden with white head. Aroma of grass, grain, fruit, wheat, pale malt and faint spice notes. Taste is sweet, malt, wheat, fruity notes and yeast.
Pours slightly foggy amber with low white head
Aromas of dried sweet fruits, caramel, wheat,
Taste of caramel, barley, dried fruits
Great body good caramel maltyness
Pours caramel amber. Aroma is caramel, honey, dried tropical fruit, muscovado sugar. Taste is honey, tropical fruit, caramel, butterscotch, vanilla, hay.
July 2010. 750 ml. caged and corked bottle. Golden color. Malty aromas with fruit, honey, spice and sweet notes. Very nice mouthfeel, good balance, and hops with a bit of alcohol on the finish.
Deep malty aroma with hints of fruit. Amber golden color. Sweet but not cloying. Medium bodied with a long sweet finish.
Bottle: Deep honey in color, moderate white foamy head, spotty lacing. Big heavy sweet grassy nose, slight melon and honey. Very bready and grassy on the tongue. Smooth, surprised this is 8.3%. Seems
to have held up over these years. Moderate body and mouthfeel. A bit more dusty and dry grasses on the finish, but it remains somewhat sweet. I thought this would be heavy and cloying, but nope. Great balance!
Bottle thanks to acks..Pour is dark..Nose is sweet, Nose is caramel, oxidation, sweetness..Taste is caramal, sweetness, cereal, musty, grains..
Bottle from South Bay Drugs: Created a thick foamy patch of head which eventually retreated to reveal a sparkling golden blonde bock. In the nose, there is a mild balance between grassy hops and grained malts that are typical of this particular style. The flavor is a bit on the sweet side with a bold bitter finish. Notes of sweet high quality malt that could pass as European while also having a bread or grain like taste. The hops involved are moderate and seem to throw the flavor a little off balance compared to the aroma this beer gave off, but they are surely interesting.
Bottle. The look is golden in color, clear, and not much head. The smell is fruits, light, malts, and floral. The taste is malt, fruit, floral, and light.
This was a decent beer, not too familiar with the Heller Bock style so i wont go into big detail. I think it might have been slightly too old, maybe better when fresh, but I discovered it on a back shelf at work and had to try it. Slightly too hoppy for my liking, I much prefer their Stout they did for the 30th Anniversary series.
Not much to say about smell. Very unpersonal taste with alcohol dominating.
A nice medium brown body that started clear and gradually grew more opaque as the sediment began to stir. A nice tan head that faded to a thin coating, nice lace. Aroma had a nice sweet malt note and some toasted notes. Good balance on the flavor, delicately sweet and had good balance from the toasted malts. A good smooth body and a full finish. A decent beer that probably would have been better 6 months ago.
750 ml bottle into tulip glass, bottled on 5/25/2010. Pours very hazy orange amber color with a nice 2 finger fairly dense cream colored head with great retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing on the glass. Aromas of caramel, apple, pear, bread, toast, brown sugar, grass, herbal, floral, light clove, and earthy peppery spiciness; some moderate cardboard as well that reduce as it warms. Pretty nice aromas with good complexity and balance; despite the oxidation. Taste of caramel, apple, pear, bread, toast, brown sugar, floral, grass, light clove, and earthy peppery spiciness; slight cardboard as well, but not too bad. Lingering notes of caramel, apple, pear, bread, toast, brown sugar, grass, floral, clove, and earthy peppery spiciness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice flavor balance with good complexity; with a nice malt/spiciness balance; and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Medium carbonation and body; with a smooth and fairly crisp mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with only a slight warming noticed after the finish. Overall this is a very good imperial helles offering. Nice balance and complexity of malt and spicy flavors; and very smooth to drink for the gravity. The oxidation certainly knocked it down a bit; but it was still a very enjoyable offering.
Sampled at SBWF11
Slightly hazy, golden.
A lot of sweet candy in the aroma.
Sweet and malty flavour. Low bitterness.
Stockholm Beer & Whiskey 2012: Söt men en ganska jordig humle som ger en lite sträv eftersmak.
Sample at SBWF 2012.
A bit hazy amber with a small head. Sweet with malt and syrup. Also dried dark fruit, biscuits and some dark bread. The mouth feel was on the thick side.
Bottle at Stockholm Beer and Whiskey Festival 2012. Hazy amber liquid with small white head. Aroma of caramel, biscuit, grain, raw sugar, toffee, port, dark fruit and citrus. Taste is light sweet and light bitter with notes of raw sugar, wort and toffee. Medium bodied with light carbonation.
September 30, 2011 with blankboy, garthicus, gregclow, jerc and mabel. My 750ml corked & caged bottle. Clear amber with a nice lasting pillowy off-white head. Smells like a resiny bock - malty, somewhat bittter, orange zest, some alcohol - nice fresh cereal grain sweetness. Taste follows, a little floral, more alcohol and some cocoa. Thick, nicely carbonated, a little astringent, with some emerging resin bitterness in the finish.
Vintage 2010. 750mL bottle, caged & corked. Cork went off like a cannon. (This may have been aged too long...) Pours hazy dark orange color. No head. Looks like fried chicken grease. Loads of toasted malts in the nose. A bit of mustiness and basement aromas. Tastes like an aged English barleywine at this point. Distinctive toasted malt character. Distant tropical tree fruits, apricot, and a large amount of wood-aged character as well. Still has some of the hop bitterness in the finish. Finishes with more of wooded earthy character than expected with a touch of tobacco hidden in there. Wish I didn’t wait so long to open it. (3403)
Unfortunately I probably should have opened this up sooner than 2 years old, but still good. The body got a bit syrupy being the solo issue. Pours thick but clear amber with a big creamy cream colored head. The aroma brings some spicy and syrupy malts, hops are gone. Flavors are a bit boozy and sweet, but still good overall.
13th October 2010
Lightly hazy amber beer, short lived off white head. Light palate, starts crisp but rapidly turns soft. Sweetish malts with a little caramel, vaguely tripel like but dark. Well integrated citrus hop. Turns softer with sweet caraway malt. Nicely joined up and very drinkable.
Sampled a bottle at home, smooth almost bourbon taste on the tongue, smells of wood barrel aged malt, a sharp semi-bitter aftertaste that doesn’t linger too long. Mine was a hazy orange-brown color with a foamy tan head that stayed around to the bottom of the glass. An exceptional beer, didn’t notice much citrus in it which is good.
In bottle at Craig’s. Pours a cloudy golden colour with a fair white head. Aroma of apricot, mango, caramel and biscuity malt. Similar flavours with apricot, mango, guava and caramel again. Moderate carbonation and a foamy mouth-feel. Lovely.
Hazy mid blonde, white head, collapses to lacing, pineapple nose, dry, quite acrid, touch if sweetness
bottle at home ... light amber .. thin white head ... soft zezty fruity ... soft toffee malt ... that malt i dont like and soft sugers nose... sweet fruits ... juicy malts ... little orange ... and way to much of that malt i dont like
750ml bottle - Pours hazy dark orange and has a pleasant, fruity aroma with some grainy pale malt. It tastes sweet with a good fruit background. There’s some mild hops bitterness but the malt dominates. The 8% abv is barely noticeable and there’s a dry finish. Good.