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)