A few months ago (I can’t recall exactly when) I first learned of Sierra Nevada’s plans for their 2014 Beer Camp Sampler. This isn’t the first year, of course, that they’ve done a Beer Camp 12-pack, and I look forward to the variety of beers they deliver, each a special formulation by a homebrewer. At least that’s usually the case, anyway. For 2014, Sierra Nevada wanted to do something a little differently.

Hence, Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Across America. This time around, the sampler would in fact offer 12 unique brews, each a collaboration with a highly regarded brewery. The beers would be brewed at Sierra Nevada’s two facilities: Chico, California, and Mills River, North Carolina. More than an eclectic gathering of special beers, this sampler shines through as a symbol of the collective spirit craft brewers hold, a spirit of respect and admiration for finely crafted beer that transcends the competitive drive.

The 12 beers in the sampler include (from the Sierra Nevada Website):

•Allagash Brewing Company, Portland, Maine -- Myron’s Walk Belgian-Style Pale Ale

•Asheville Brewers Alliance, Asheville, N.C. -- Tater Ridge Scottish Ale

•Ballast Point Brewing Company, San Diego, Calif. -- Electric Ray India Pale Lager

•Bell’s Brewery, Inc., Kalamazoo, Mich. -- Maillard’s Odyssey Imperial Dark Ale

•Cigar City Brewing, Tampa, Fla. -- Yonder Bock Tropical Maibock (CAN)

•Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Paso Robles, Calif. -- Torpedo Pilsner Hoppy Pilsner

•New Glarus Brewing Company, New Glarus, Wis. -- There and Back English-Style Bitter

•Ninkasi Brewing Company, Eugene, Ore. -- Double Latte Coffee Milk Stout

•Oskar Blues Brewery, Longmont, Colo./Brevard, N.C. -- CANfusion Rye Bock (CAN)

•Russian River Brewing Company, Santa Rosa, Calif. -- Yvan the Great Belgian-Style Blonde

•3 Floyds Brewing Company, Munster, Ind. -- Chico King Pale Ale

•Victory Brewing Company, Downingtown, Pa. -- Alt Route Altbier

It’s the Alt Route Altbier that I’m drinking tonight, and more on that in a minute. First, though, I had to find the sampler, and I knew that wasn’t going to be an easy task. I e-mailed Sherlocks in Kennesaw about it, but didn’t get a response. Total Wine couldn’t tell me when it was coming in. I only found out when pictures started appearing in Honest Craft Beer Reviews, and then I made it a mission to get a 12-pack. Luckily, Sherlocks had just gotten them in, and I raced there in time to score (along with a bonus 13th bomber of a Beer Camp West Coast Double IPA ).

The price was not as welcome a surprise, however: $25 is steep indeed, and $5 more than I paid for last year’s Beer Camp 12-pack. That was overpriced as well in my book. Prices seem to vary across the country according to accounts in Honest Craft Beer Reviews, with prices as low as $17 and as high as $30 being reported. $25 seems to be the median price, and as much as I complain about price it’s important to note you are paying for 12 unique singles here, and that is a mitigating factor. Then too, these aren’t beers to pop in succession over a weekend, but to be savored over a series of nights one by one.

My advice: don’t let the high price keep you from this one.

OK, now to the Alt Route Altbier that I’m drinking tonight. This is the seventh bottle (or can for that matter) that I’ve popped from the sampler, meaning I am now past the halfway point in my beer camping. The plan had been to drink them in order of strength, smallest to largest. But our own Tom Beer Whisperer Mulvihill teased me awhile back with the notions of sweet potato in beer in a brew that included them. Since Tater Ridge also used that tuber as an ingredient, it was the first to be popped. I'm now drinking them in order of alcohol content, and Alt Route is next on deck by that criteria.

Alt Route is a collaborative effort with Downington, Pennsylvania's Victory Brewing Company. Victory has long been one of my very favorite breweries, perhaps because they not only do German beers so well but because they do everything well. Just try to tell me that Victory Hop Devil isn't one of the best beers you've ever tasted. It is for me.

From the label:

Brewers are notorious for refusing to take the easy path. Alt Route is a tribute to this stubborn spirit that drove us to dodge the status quo and build breweries of our own. Together we chased the siren song of beer with the siren song of beer with this revamped take on an antique beer style.

Ingredients from the website:

Yeast -Ale

Bittering Hops -Summit

Finishing Hops -Liberty, Mt. Hood

Malts -Pilsner, Munich, Caramel, Carafa III

Alt Route has an alcohol content of 6.6% by volume and 50 IBUs. The alcohol content is a bit high for the style I think, but not excessively so. Mine was bottled on 6/03/14, I assume at the Mills River facility.

Sierra Nevada Victory Alt Route Altbier pours to a dark reddish brown color with a thick creamy head formation and a delightful malty nose of toasted nuts, molasses and light chocolate. A thick layer of Brussels lace follows the liquid down the sides of my glass. This one screams Munich malt in much the same way St. Boisterous does, or Prima Pils screams German pilsner malt. The finish is grassy hoppy in the classic German fashion with just a kiss of citrus to remind you Sierra Nevada brewed this one. Exceptional!

This is one of my very favorite beers from this sampler. The malts are probably why; although modern beer geeks seem to fixate on hops, malt is really the most essential component in beer. Not to say that hops are not important, but lets remember that beer was made for thousands of years without hops at all.

It is the malt that defines Alt Route altbier, and I have to say that the choice of malts really defines this as a victory beer more than a Sierra Nevada beer. So far, this is the most unique beer in the sampler, at least in that regard.

Sierra Nevada will be doing festivals to celebrate its Beer Camp efforts, and you can read more about them here.

And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box .

*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.

(B)=Bottled

(D)=Draft

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