Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale clone recipe

Sierra Nevada's seasonal IPA, released every November since 1981 — making it one of the oldest American IPAs still in production. Celebration is brewed with fresh-harvest 'wet' hops (actually fresh-dried, not technically wet), and the recipe shifts slightly year to year based on harvest. The 2024 version moves the bitterness down slightly to let the aroma hops speak.

Brewery

Sierra Nevada

Style

American IPA

ABV

6.8%

IBU

OG / FG

1.065 / 1.014

SRM

First brewed

1981

About this beer

Celebration is an American IPA in the classic 1980s mold: pine, grapefruit, resinous bitterness, copper color. It's the beer that proved an IPA could be a seasonal tradition — every November, beer drinkers wait for it. Cleaner than modern hazy IPAs, dryer than modern double IPAs, and crucially, brewed with the freshest hops available. Drink within 4-6 weeks of canning for the full effect.

Grain bill (5-gallon batch)

Grain	Weight	%	Role
2-row pale malt	12.5 lb	89%	American 2-row, slightly more than SNPA to support the higher ABV.
Caramel 60L	1.0 lb	8%	Same crystal proportion as SNPA — keeps the family resemblance.
Caramel 80L	0.5 lb	3%	Adds a touch more color and toasted caramel depth.

Hop schedule

Hop	Amount	When	Purpose
Chinook	1.0 oz	60 min boil	Bittering
Cascade	1.0 oz	15 min boil	Flavor
Centennial	1.0 oz	5 min boil	Flavor + aroma
Cascade	1.5 oz	Whirlpool / flameout	Aroma
Centennial	1.5 oz	Whirlpool / flameout	Aroma
Cascade	1.5 oz	Dry hop · 5 days	Aroma
Centennial	1.0 oz	Dry hop · 5 days	Aroma
Chinook	0.5 oz	Dry hop · 5 days	Pine note

Yeast

Sierra Nevada / Chico (Wyeast 1056, White Labs WLP001, Safale US-05)

Same as SNPA. Clean, dry, lets the hops dominate. Ferment at 66–68°F.

Water profile

Calcium sulfate–dominant water profile. Target ~180 ppm sulfate, ~50 ppm chloride for the crisp West Coast finish.

Process notes

Mash at 151°F for 60 min — dry finish to support the higher ABV
Use the freshest hops you can get — Celebration's signature is the just-harvested character
Single dry hop charge for 5 days at 65°F
Carbonate to 2.4–2.5 volumes
Drink fresh — Sierra Nevada itself emphasizes that this beer is meant to be drunk within weeks of canning

Why it tastes like that

The interesting part of a clone recipe is understanding why each ingredient choice matters. Here's what each element of the recipe contributes:

Cascade + Centennial + Chinook is the classic 'CCC' or '3C' American hop combination, named after these three varieties. Cascade brings grapefruit, Centennial brings citrus zest, Chinook brings pine.
Copper color from Crystal 60+80L is the visual signature of pre-2010 American IPAs — Celebration kept this character while modern IPAs went paler.
No double-up on dry hop vs Pliny — Celebration uses a single 5-day charge, which is more traditional and produces a slightly less aggressive but cleaner aroma.
Whirlpool emphasis over dry hop puts more of the hop character in the cooked, soluble fraction — softer mouthfeel than a heavy dry-hop bomb.
Chinook bittering instead of Magnum gives a piney bitterness vs the cleaner-but-less-characterful Magnum bittering of many modern IPAs.