Sierra Nevada Brewing Company set out to celebrate American craft beer in the best way possible: by collaborating with 30 breweries across the country to create unique, collaborative beers that represented America, as well as host craft beer festivals across the country featuring the region's most loved craft breweries. They called their collaboration efforts "Beer Camp Across America." Recently, Beer Camp Across America's 12-pack was made public. This 12-pack features 6 beers that represent different regions of craft beer and the flavors that make these region's brews unique. Each beer is a collaborative brewing effort between Sierra Nevada and a handful of other wildly popular breweries in each specific region, and the results definitely don't disappoint. If you have the opportunity to buy this limited edition 12-pack, we highly recommend that you don't pass it up! Since there are six total Beer Camp Across America brews, we decided to split up our tasting into two parts. This week's tasting included Sweet Sunny South Southern Table Beer, West Latitude Session Rye with Hibiscus and Pat-Rye-Ot Revolutionary Pale Ale.

Sweet Sunny South - Southern Table Beer

Photo Courtesy of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company

Collaborators  Representing some of the South's most notable flavors - tea, honey and sweet peaches - this beer was a collaboration between Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Austin Beerworks, Bayou Teche Brewing, Creature Comforts Brewing Co., Funky Buddha Brewery and Wicked Weed Brewing. Aroma Sweet and biscuit malt notes with a floral, herbal and somewhat citrusy hop nose. Appearance Pale, almost gold in color with a lasting head and little lacing. Very nice clear clarity. Flavor Grainy, sweet malt upfront with floral and citrus hop flavors. Mouthfeel Medium body and well carbonated. Nice dry finish that doesn't distract from the flavor. Overall Tasting NotesThis is an amazing beer with subtle hints of tea and peach that you just can't get enough of. In fact, our President, Rick Zich, said he could happily drink 10 to 12 of these beers in one sitting if we let him.

West Latitude Session Rye with Hibiscus

Photo Courtesy of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company

Collaborators  Bringing in the West coast's love of hops and Hawaii's famous hibiscus, this beer is a collaboration between Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Bear Republic Brewing Co., Faction Brewing Company, Mad River Brewing Company, Magnolia Brewing Company, and Maui Brewing Company. Aroma Biscuit, toasty and somewhat sweet, caramelly malt aromas accompanied by herbal and earthy hops. Appearance Nice red/ amber color with a clear clarity and diminishing head. Flavor Biscuit, grainy and toasted malt flavors with bitter, herbal hops. Nice clean yeast finish. Mouthfeel Light body and mouthfeel of a session with low to medium carbonation. Overall Tasting NotesThe rye comes through nicely in this beer and presents delicious subtly toasted notes with each sip. The hibiscus was somewhat lost with the strong malt and hop profile, but the beer was fantastic nevertheless.

Pat-Rye-Ot Revolutionary Pale Ale

Photo Courtesy of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company 

Collaborators  An old-meets-new take on a pale ale. All the collaborators are located in states that made up the 13 original colonies, and they utilized rye and apples, as these ingredients were some of the first used in American beer brewing history. These collaborators were Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Devil's Backbone Brewing Company, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Lawson's Finest Liquids, Stoudts Brewing Co. and Trillium Brewing. Aroma Sweet biscuit malt notes with earthy, citrusy hops and a clean yeast smell. Appearance Pale gold in color with a clear clarity and diminishing head. Flavor Biscuit and grainy malt backbone support notes of earthy and herbal hops and a clean yeast finish. Mouthfeel Medium body, crisp and a moderate amount of carbonation make this a smooth beer. Overall Tasting Notes The rye is upfront and very flavorful. Boasts a bitter finish that isn't overwhelming, making this beer still very drinkable. Loved the apple undertones present in the flavor.