Over the past 28 years, Sierra Nevada has stood as a formidable national alternative to the massive American macro-brewers. When they started in 1980, there was a dignified simplicity to providing just four basic year-round offerings -- Pale Ale, Porter, Wheat and Stout -- styles which have stood as pillars of the craft industry. But recently, simple has shifted towards quaint, and though Sierra Nevada has always offered a cadre of seasonal and limited selections, someone has seemingly decided it's time to up the ante and add a new addition to their previously untouched year-round core. Welcome Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA.

Torpedo Extra IPA instantly separates itself by name alone, sounding a bit flashier than its other yearlong brethren, as if an ad exec in a mesmerizing tie somehow managed to slip one by the old guard. But I'm not sure that's a bad thing. Frankly, I've always been on the fence about Sierra Nevada. Much props for making the microbrew market what it is today and all due respect to their Pale Ale which is trumped only by Sam Adams Boston Lager in the annals of craft beer history, but, for my tastes, Sierra Nevada brews have always seemed a bit standard -- a feeling that has only become accentuated as the craft market has deepened.


So now seems like a good time to reassert their dominance. I know they have the tools to do it. Their seasonal and limited selections have demonstrated the ability to add significant flare atop their proven run of quality. And even staunch traditionalists have to admit much has changed since Regan took office. [Add your own witty, yet not-particularly-analogous Obama reference here.] If Torpedo Extra IPA is as good or better as brews such as thier Celebration Ale or the absolutely exquisite Harvest Ale, it'll make a worthy fifth man on the Sierra Nevada team.

But talk of taste is premature: The beer's not set to hit shelves until sometime in early 2009. Find out all there is to be learned about Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra Ale by checking out this article on BeerNews.org.

[via BeerNews.org] [Photo Credit: sierranevada.com]