Profiled by Ken Carman
Creamy tan pillow head that fades fast. 30 srm, or tad lower. Edge of glass cling lingers once head disappears. Obsidian: strong light only shines through showing murky, yellow, highlights.
Aroma: ginger and a whiff of lime.
Mouthfeel: silky and abrasive at the same time due to spice/lime dominance. Low carbonation, almost no tingle from that.
Flavor: to be honest the spices conflict with basic stout recipe. And the spices are harsh, abrasive. Except color, there’s little stout here, just spices. The lime creates an annoying tang that doesn’t compliment, simply distracts: and I like lime. Maybe with just a slight hint might work, even then: questionable.
Where’s the stout? If any it’s the roasted barley combining with spice, and the lime, to increase the abrasiveness.
2.8: probably the lowest rank I’ve ever given a Sierra. In fact it may be one of the lowest ranks I’ve given at PGA. This is so out of balance it’s almost offensive.
Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”
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Warning! Warning! Ken Carman to your left! Reverse thrusters! Collision alert! Oh, dang, there you’ve gone and done it: you got some Ken Carman on our flying spaghetti monster.
Well that experience was a little… WARPED.
Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY. That’s Ithaca: home to Ithaca Brewing and Bandwagon. She writes about beer frequently, so that means she samples a lot of beer. The professor is jealous.
 
If you are familiar at all with the 2008 BJCP guidelines (AKA every competition for the past seven years) then you are mostly familiar with the major categories for the 2016 competition–with three differences:
Nutmeg and orange peel with faint hint of what way in the background. Pale malt up front, but even that is faint.
Some categories may be tough to do this with, like category 3: Czech lagers. Finding examples may be tough, especially in more rural regions. I would say, â€brew it yourself then compare,†but considering the cost, the effort, and how tough some of these styles are to brew right, not sure how useful that advice might be. 
In years past, I have made several visits to see family in Arkansas. Until just two years ago, what greeted me in the central portion of that state – around Little Rock and Hot Springs – was what I call a Beer Desert. That has changed. While the northwest corner of the state, home to Fayetteville and the huge University of Arkansas campus, has been fully aboard the craft beer train for awhile now, the rest of the state seems to have caught up with it.
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