Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico CA offers a sampler of their finest. It comes served on a plastic tray with paper place mat not unlike the McDonald's tray. The place mat has 15 spots for beers and each is described within the circular designator.

The rating system I used on the low end are adjectives next step is 'meh' followed by one underline and top honors is a double underline.

the format--Beer Name (my rating): the brewery provided description

Draught Style (underline): is our popular draft style version of the classic Pale Ale. Lighter in flavor and a little less robust than our bottled Pale Ale, the Draught Style Ale is very Drinkable, yet flavorful ale.

Pale Ale (meh): is a delightful example of the classic Pale Ale style. It has a deep amber color and an exceptionally full bodied, complex character. The Fragrant bouquet and spicy flavor are the result of our generous use of the finest Cascade hops.

Porter (Double underline): is a delicious, dark colored, medium-bodied ale made with roasted malted barley. It has a creamy head, and a very rich, yet very smooth, malty flavor.

Stout (Double underline): is a very Creamy and full-bodied example of this traditional ale style. Very dark and very, very rich, the Stout boasts of a pronounced roasted flavor. (I bought a six of Porter and one of Stout for a taste test earlier in the summer I remember the stout having a sour after taste that grew as you got towards the middle of the bottle to a detrimental level--making the Porter a better beer. I need to retry this and make sure that my memory serves me correctly)

Bigfoot (yuck. (It originally rated an onion from someones burger so that I wouldn't drink the rest of it--the onion actually helped)): Barleywine Style Ale is an award-winning example of the English barleywine-style ale. It boasts a dense, fruity bouquet; an extremely rich, intense bittersweet palate; and a deep reddish-brown color. This ale is superbly balanced between an almost overpowering maltiness and wonderfully bittersweet hoppiness.

Celebration Ale (meh): A time-honored tradition of brewing a special beer for the holiday season. Using generous portions of barley malts and whole hops, we create a brew with a full rich and hearty character. The tradition of dry-hopping adds a delicate bouquet which balances this rich fullness.

Torpedo Extra IPA (single underline): Torpedo is an assertive American IPA deep reddish-gold in color, with a smooth and bready malt presence and over-the-top hop aromas. The beer has a solid bitterness and a massive hop flavor, yet remains easy drinking with a pleasant dry finish.

Anniversary Ale (Single underline): Sierra Nevada's new seasonal offering is an American style IPA with intense pine and citrus hop aroma. Well Balanced malt profile with a crisp hop note finish.

Limb and Life (not served): Chestnut colored and medium bodied. This beer has malt flavors reminiscent of roasted coffee combined with pronounced hoppiness from the use of experimental hops. This is an easy drinking "session beer". [sic] This is a special collaborative brewing effort between the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery.

Extra Special Pale (meh): Extra Special Pale. We took our Pale ale recipe and dry-hopped it! This addition of fresh unkilned hops in the fermenters give the ESP a huge flowery nose. This beer has pleased the brewmaster so much that it should become a seasonal offering. (Erica liked this one)

Brown Ale (double underlined): A traditional nut-brown ale using the renowned British aromatic hop- East Kent Golding. Medium bodied, slightly dry but a dark and very flavorful ale.

Blonde Ale (single underline): Is a wonderful old world style ale from Sierra Nevada. This very light flavored ale is brewed using 50% Maris Otter English malts, Challenger hops from England and Styrian Golding hops from Slovenia. A very refreshing brew for the coming of spring.

Crystal Wheat (H20): Brewed using a mix of 65% wheat malt and 35% barley malt. This filtered wheat beer is light blonde in color, Light [sic] bodied and has a wonderful drinkability. Our Brewmaster is very proud of this light ale and recommends this beer for novices to craft brewed beers and aficionados alike.

Kellerweis (bacteria): Kellerweis is a light and refreshing beer with deep complexity of flavor. The yeast provides hints of fruit flavors and spices, including ripe banana and clove. This hazy-golden beer glows with suspended yeast creating a velvety texture perfect for a sunny California day. (I often classify Weises as tasting like compost, or what compost smells like, this weis is one of the least composty I have had)

Harvest Ale (meh): This is a truly unique heavily hopped ale, with a most unusual taste and mouthfeel. It is brewed using fresh un-kilned green hops. This is called wet hopping and was the first example of Its [sic] kind brewed in America. (this tasted more like what anniversary Ale from the bottle tastes like and the Anniversary didn't taste like I remembered--the bar tender might have switched these, which is funny because I thought the stout and porter samples were also switched)

Garden

I am new to USDA zone 8.

Plants I have tried or am trying:

Flowers

• Freesia, planted fall 2008. The spring blooms were fantastic, long lived, and fragrant. Note to self, don't plant them in the same bed as the tulips and daffodils as they will take over and over top.
• Spanish lavender, came with house. self seeding taking over. pleasant scent.
• Paper Whites, came with house. meh
• Tulips, planted fall 2008. streaked, some good color, not as high a success rate as I was expecting.
• Saffron, planted fall 2008. bloomed and produced first season in ground.
• Daffodils, planted fall 2008. bloomed, not as showy as I was hoping, too many freesias in the same bed
• Anemonie, planted fall 2008. several came up only one bloomed.
• Tea Roses, came with house. pruned per the rose club's directions, having strength issues.
• Roses-not tea, came with house. Pruned per the rose club's directions, having strength issues.
• Echenasia, planted fall 2008. two didn't over winter. others have leaves up and first blooms. note to self purchased sampler from "high country gardens"
• Zinnia, spring 2008. only three grew of seed packet sown.
• Cosmos, spring 2008. only one of packet grew. suspect helpers weeded them out.

Veggies (in raised beds unless otherwise noted)

• Sugar Snap Peas, planted winter 08 and 09. good crops. leaf miners in some of them. Note to self, plant along the fence or look into self supporting types.
• Tomatoes
  
• Beefsteak, planted spring 08. Didn't bloom until August, trouble setting due to heat. Never did get any fruit. Note to self, very smoky July and blistering hot August.
• Collard Greens, started January 08, small rosette until fall 08 . Had serious case of aphids. Tasty.
• Basil
  
• sweet: only one plant survived. tasty. summer 08.
• type named after a city in Italy (Genoa?): only one plant survived. hot, tannic flavor, ok mixed with sweet basil.
• Butternut Squash, planted spring 08 started indoors. copious crop. nice flavor.
• Leeks, spring 2008. none germinated.
• Loofah, spring 2008. of six planted, only two survived. picked on fruit too early, horridly bitter flavor. Others made good sponges.
• summer squash spring 2008. killed
• zucchini squash, spring 2008. killed. trying again 2009-put in tree well with regular drip system.
• Cantaloupe, spring 2009. two up or four planted-in tree well with regular drip system.
• hot pepper mix (burpee) spring 2008. one grew. trouble with seedlings (water fail).
• Bell pepper mix (burpee) spring 2008. one plant grew, two fruits, very small 2inches long perhaps.

Fruit Trees

• Fiji apple (?), came with house. good crop.
• navel orange, dwarf, came with house. killed
• lime, dwarf, came with house, might still be alive.
• lemon, dwarf, came wit house. killed.
• Cherry, spring 09, bare root. leafed out.
• pomegranate, spring 09, bare root. had buds at last check, need to check. note to self: sat out of soil in garage for two days.
• grapefruit-ruby. dwarf, spring 08. frost damage, suspect dead.