This evening I tried two IPAs from two norcal breweries that we’re all familiar with. I went to my local watering hole, Cato’s in Oakland, they generally have a beer or two amongst the dozen on tap that I’ve never had before. Tonight the two new beers were Sierra Nevada’s Torpedo IPA and Lagunitas’ Lucky 13.
Both were strong IPAs that weren’t to be ignored, but Lucky 13 totally outdid Torpedo. The hops profile of Torpedo is what really disappointed; I like hops, but hops need to go well with the rest of the beer, and the piney flavors of the magnum hops didn’t match the british components from the rest of the beer. To be fair, Torpedo was probably a good beer, but after Lucky 13, it didn’t really hold its own. Lucky 13 was a little darker (both were more India than pale), and the malt-hop coupling made for very enjoyable drinking.
We here at Brewed for Thought tend to bash Sierra Nevada a bit here and there, and the more time I spend paying attention to their beers, the less motivated I am to defend them. The hoards at ratebeer.com generally rave about Torpedo – average grade A- (though one dude gave it a C+ – but he also said it was macro-like pale yellow?), and I can only say that I wish they could try it beside a good beer like Lucky 13.
Are you talking about Beer Advocate with the letter grades?
I’m not a huge fan of the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale anymore, but I think they do a good job with a lot of their seasonal releases, similar to Lagunitas. I have to admit, I haven’t tried Torpedo.