Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Our Brewers Reserve Grand Cru
Brewers Reserve is a special ale highlighting our pioneering history and the innovative spirit that has carried us through all these years. It is a marriage of our three most acclaimed ales: Oak-aged Bigfoot, Celebration Ale, and fresh Pale Ale blended together and generously dry-hopped. Come join us in celebrating thirty years with this most special brew. Drink it now, or save it for a future anniversary of your own.
3.9
513 reviews
Chico, United States
Community reviews
From notes. Enjoyed at the Ashley’s Rare & Vintage Beer TasteFest on June 07. The pour is a nice ruby color with a light tan head and some sporadic lacing. The aroma is really hot up front. Lots of bourbon and vanilla that fades through a nice caramel malt and a good hoppiness to follow. For the woodiness and vanilla, I love the hoppiness. The flavor also packs some heat. Very earthy, with light roast and a dark fruit presence , while remaining hoppy and dry on the back end. The mough feel is thin, not much carbonation, and the aftertaste is excessively woody and just a touch off, maybe leathery?
On draught at Roscoe’s for Sierra Nevada Summit/Tap Takeover. Super thick copper amber color with tan head. Aroma is oxidized caramel, citrus, and toffee. Taste is incredible, with caramel, toffee, pitted fruit, bitter grapefruit, oxidation, and oak. For such a mishmash of beers, it is very well-balanced.
From a corked 75 cl bottle from Andrew’s cellar. Pours a.ear
Deep copper with an ecru head. Aroma of caramel and dates. Flavors of dark fruits. Lots of boozy notes. Aged pretty well.
Bottle. Amber with a medium off white head. Fruity and malty tones. Fruit, malt, caramel and hops. Full body with a long dry after taste.
All day beer celebration was capped off by this bad boy from the Brickstore cellar and shared with jrob21. A touch of oxidation showed, but the brew was surprisingly still hoppy with lots of rich caramel and tons of fruits (ripened dark cherries, plums, raisins). The nose was really big still on this and there was a fair amount of complexity.
Bottle from the brickstore cellar. Happy early birthday West. Well aged barlewine at this point. Lots of chalk and malt texture. Lots of red fruit, cherry, plum. Super wafting caramel aroma. Pretty nice considering the age this is holding up well.
Tastes of toffee, caramel with a little burbon on the end. Hops are missing. After a few years I would like to know know what this tasted like young.
Bottle finally enjoyed in FL. Pours a clear amber-bronze color with a foamy tan head that settles into a nice slick. Aroma is caramel malt and maple syrup but also some sweet hops still hanging in there. Great flavor to it. Sweeter malt with some lingering bitterness in the finish. This has help up decently.
[Bottle 750ml] Pours a murky orange-amber, almost brown, with an average mostly-lasting frothy beige head. Nice aroma, sweet, malty and hoppy along with a good amount of dark fruit, a bit of wood, a hint of spice and some brown sugar. Flavour of sweet bready malt, a good amount of piney hops, some wood, brown sugar, dark fruit, alcohol, spices and a woody bitter finish -- quite sweet, a little goes a long way. Average to medium bodied. An enjoyable sipper but this is one to share for me as it’s quite sweet.
Been cellaring this for awhile now..interested to see how it turned out. A beautiful beer. Dark ruby red amber with a big fluffy, creamy off-white head, fully lasting. Elegant, blended, rounded aroma. Still hoppy! Grapefruit. Some overripe red fruit. Caramel. Subtle bourbon, vanilla, and wood. Bigger end of medium body. Soft and fluffy body. Still hoppy and bitter. Grapefruit and overripe red fruits. Just enough caramely maltiness. Bourbon barrel character shows through more, particularly towards the backend and into the finish. Woody and quite dry. I enjoyed it but it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. Too leathery. Maybe sat too long.
Aroma-Rich malt, dark fruit, graham cracker, rich, roasty. alcohol warmth, spice.
Taste is similar, leave a nice warming/burn in the back of my throat. Rich dark fruit, malt, some hops. very bold beautiful and strong.
Draft at Sierra Nevada Tap House Reno pretty fresh (from notes). Pours a clear deep amber color with a small off white head. The aroma and flavor have quite a bit from each of the beers used; caramel malts, lightly toasted malts, citrus, herbal and earthy hops, a hint of dank hops, some mild spices from the Celebration. The experience was enhanced by having this outside next to the river.
Toffee color. Big frothy khaki head. Plenty of lacing. Big malty aroma with a bit of husky grain. Big bourbony flavor. Tons of malt some vanilla. A little boozy.
750ml corked bottle from Discount (which seemed to sit in the same place for a year), cellar aged 4 months, served at cellar temperature. Pours an orangey brown with an off-orange head leaving some nice streaks of lace. Aroma has sweet fruits, whiskey, caramel and oak. Taste is of caramel, sweet fruits, some nuttiness, whiskey, light pine. Medium to full bodied and sticky. Finishes oak-y and sweet with some alcoholly length. Hops probably gone, this was very barrel aged barleywine-ish, with the fruit and caramel, with the whiskey being the strongest part by far. Should’ve picked this up and enjoyed a couple of years ago. If nothing else it made me want to pick up some barrel-aged Bigfoot.
Pours an amber brown with a bit of orange. Medium tan collar and the head was either non-existent or faded so quickly that I didn’t see it by the time it was handed to me. Aroma is boozey, really overly woody, brown sugar. Medium body and very low carbonation . Taste is of raisin, toffee, and some of that woodiness present in the aroma. Taste is more of a barley wine than grand cru.
Bottle shared at california 10k event. Pours ruby with not much head. Taste was sweet dark fruits
75cl bottle. Hazy reddish brown, very thin off-white head. Thick raisin and caramel on the nose, decent red fruit and pine - unmistakable SN character. The taste is big on the caramel and pine, some light boozy oaked notes, plenty of vibrant grapefruit left in this. Crunchy caramel malt. Bit of harsh booze near the finish. Lingering spices and pine. Really bright hop character in this is so surprising, very enjoyable.
I found this 750ml while in Reno for 12 bucks, so I figured since I’m on vacay, I’d go for it. Pulled the cork with a nice deep pop followed by whiskey aroma pouring out the bottle. Pours with a nice light beige frothy head that stays about a quarter inch in the glass with un-uniform bubbles. Pours a beautiful glowing dark amber/cherry juice color. The aroma is great- whiskey, oak, cherries and dates, candy sugar, vanilla, christmas spices and alcohol. At first sip the first thing I think is that this thing is still pretty hoppy for being about 3 years old. I don’t know how Sierra Nevada does it, but their able to preserve hops so well in their high gravity beers i.e. Bigfoot aged for a million years is still hoppy. Anyway, tastes like caramel, christmas spiced hops, vanilla, oak with a hint of whiskey and dried dates. Fairly boozy and nicely hoppy. I thought that the hops from celebration and pale ale would oxidize this thing but I guess the barreled Bigfoot did wonders. Probably peaking, the hops got a little skunky as it warmed up and I think this is as enjoyable as the you can ask for from such a weird grand cru blend. I don’t know if it was the best blend SN could have concocted, but thoroughly enjoyable. If anything makes me super stoked for my barrel aged Bigfoot! Fun to try- an only need to drink once type of beer.
golden copper pour. smells very bitter. like raisins and pine cone.
The bitterness is insane. lots of raisin and and pineapple. tons of tropical fruits. very resinous and full of citrus. perhaps the most juicy aged beer I’ve ever had. ABV is in full force. spices like cinnamon
Location/Date:3 year old bottle spit with Dave on 12/31/2013.
Appearance: Pours a dark non-opaque maroon.
Aroma: Aroma of caramel, light booze.
Taste: Caramel, some oak, faint hops
Palate:Medium light body.
Summary: A really interesting brew with some age on it, combining the aspects of the base beers. Tasty.
750 ml bottle form Adams cellar. Ruby color with a crazy amount of head lacing the glass. Deep ruby color. The nose is still full of hops even after all this time. Dry hopping gone wild. West coast pine and light citrus with caramel and toffee. The blend of this brew is a bit odd. The dry hopping and the fresh pale ale portion of this beer really should have been consumed fresh. Dead hops float through this brew. Caramel and light hints of pine. Still a good sipper but I bet this peaked two years ago. Not a good brew to cellar. No doubt this was crazy good when it was released.
Aged approx 2 years, Pours with a crimson caramel color with a thin white head. Celebrating New Year’s Eve with a delicious chewy brew, hence the short review. Happy New Year!!!!!
Dark amber no head. Burnt sweet toffee nose. Sweet, boozy, bitter, that runs down your tongue and lasts a while.
I’m currently rating every SN brew I’ve ever had in one clean sweep.
I grew up on the classic SN Pale having it around during high school, and since have watched SN grow into a national representation of incredible craft beer. Living 45 mins away is a treat for the random growler fill. Keep up the amazing work gentleman!
Sample from bottle @sbwf13. Copper color with off white head. Aroma is sweet, flowers, fruit amd wood. Taste is also sweet, oak, vanilla, caramel and fruit
Well, been a couple years since I had this.
Pours a red amber with a thick, buttery quilt with soapy tops. Smells of malts, bitter hops, some medicinal quality, some oak, some vanilla. Flavor is malty with a touch of alcohol, lots of sweet caramelized sugar character, some bitterness, some chemical character. Medium bodied with velvet for carb and a semi dry finish. A really pleasant beer, not my favorite of the series, but decent enough. Wouldn’t seek out, but wouldn’t turn down.
Bottled. Red amber. Heavy malts, barley-wine-y. Some plums, raisins, sweet malts. Full thick body. Sweetness, but dry mouthfeel. Orange peely fruityness. Old malts, flavourful. Spicy clove.
From bottle @ sbwf13. Dark mahogany, thick creamy white head.
Lots of dark bread in aroma, heavily spiced, cardemum cake-like. Flavor has dark bready, malty with some nutty notes and the same spicyness. Buttery sweet finish. Interesting and good. Intensive.
-- via beerbasher/winphone 7
Bottled. Dark amber in color with a cream tan head. Sweet maltyness, brown syrup in aroma. Slightly roasted notes, light vinous and some dark fruits in taste. Smooth mouthfeel and quite easy to drink considering the quite high abv. Nice, but on the sweeter/boozy side. Slightly nutty aftertaste.
On tap at belvidere on 02/03/2011.
Mostly clear copper amber body with light reddish hints and a medium creamy off white head.
Sweet floral and caramel aroma with some fruit.
Sweet oak, vanilla, caramel, fruit and floral hop flavor.
Medium full body with moderate carbonation.