Celebration of Greatness

In the movie Air, Matt Damon playing Nike’s Sonny Vaccaro gives an impassioned speech to Michael Jordan’s parents where he says…

It's an American story, and that's why Americans are gonna love it. People are going to build you up, and God are they going to, because when you're great and new, we love you. Man, we'll build you up into something that doesn't even exist. You're going to change the fucking world. But you know what? Once they've built you as high as they possibly can, they're gonna tear you back down - it's the most predictable pattern. We build you into something that doesn't exist, and that means you have to try to be that thing all day, every day. That's how it works. And we do it again, and again, and again. And I'm going to tell you the truth. You're going to be attacked, betrayed, exposed and humiliated. And you'd survive that. A lot of people can climb that mountain. It's the way down that breaks them, 'cause that's the moment when you are truly alone. And what would you do then? Can you summon the will to fight on, through all the pain, and rise again? Who are you 𝙼̶𝚒̶𝚌̶𝚑̶𝚊̶𝚎̶𝚕̶ Sierra Nevada Celebration?

“People Are Going to Build You Up…”

Last week, I kicked off the Beer Crunchers Winter trends preview by highlighting three key factors that elevate Sierra Nevada’s Celebration Ale to seasonal G.O.A.T. status. These aren’t just the obvious reasons—like its bold, nostalgic flavor and the legendary craftsmanship of the brewery—but the more subtle variables that help explain why this beer has earned and maintained its icon status. Because let’s face it, in 2024, winning in the world of craft beer takes more than just a great taste and high quality.

My personal enjoyment of Celebration typically consists of ordering it on draft at my local bars, as well as a single 6-pack to enjoy over Thanksgiving week with my father-in-law on our annual visit to Sacramento. That’s about it. I wouldn’t call it an obsession like the many fans who buy one, or even multiple cases worth. It’s these loyal, excited drinkers—that have turned Celebration Ale into the most anticipated beer release by practically making it their exclusive go-to this time of year.

To get a sense of the buzz surrounding this year’s release, I turned to one of my go-to strategies: tapping into the power of memes on Instagram. Beer Crunchers doesn’t quite have the same reach of @beeraficionado, so I needed a fun, relatable way to test the level of reaction that mentioning Celebration would generate. Enter the classic Stringer Bell meme—a reliable crowd-pleaser that I posted two seasons ago as well. The post reached over 41,000 people this time, tripling the likes and reach, nearly matching the size of my entire follower base.

Including those in Chico:

A week later, I continued the Celebration conversation and momentum, so I took those top 3 reasons that Celebration is the G.O.A.T. and double-dipped by turning it into video on TikTok / Instagram. I recommend this strategy for anyone working in and around social media. If you spent the time to write something down for one medium and it gets a good response, repurpose it elsewhere in another format since the heavy lifting (the script) is already done. That video has gone on to pick up well over 40k views of its own and a couple two tree hundred comments, almost exclusively gushing about the beer.

Forbes even got in on the double-dipping by including these reasons in their article on Celebration:

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Matt Damon predicted, “People are going to build you up, and God are they going to, because when you're great and new, we love you.“

“You're Going to Change the Fucking World”

The legend of Celebration has grown more than anyone could have ever imagined, changing the way that some individuals look at their drinking experience, seasonal drinking habits, career in beer, or even toxic relationships? Don’t believe me? Here’s just a few examples of comments I’ve been getting:

You’re Going to Be Attacked, Betrayed, Exposed And Humiliated

While on this Celebration high, I was brought down to earth after being tagged in a janky taste of my own medicine. An instagram meme posted by my friend and world renowned beer commentator, Alex Kidd (DontDrinkBeers) completing the most predictable pattern that Matt Damon warned us about. The backlash to the excitement was unleashed as old DDB wrote:

If this beer just came out no one would be amped about it, dudes hate on resinous IPAs and ambers, if you love this beer so much why aren’t you trading for nugget nectar, why aren’t there like 14 saber tooth squirrel variants. No shade to SN they are the goat. But Nostalgia bias doing the heavy lifting.

DDB isn’t the only one taking shots at the G.O.A.T. either 🤔

But the biggest ax to grind with Celebration always comes from Pacific Northwest beer writers, who feel that Sierra Nevada is misrepresenting the term term “Fresh Hop”. In the land of hop growing, most notably Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, Fresh Hop beers typically use whole cone hops that are not subjected to the kilning process which dries out and preserves the hop cones. At smaller breweries more local to the PNW, hops are also rushed to the fermenter, often within 24 hours, to capitalize on all the essential oils and acids that provide maximum impact to the beer’s bitterness, aroma, and flavor. While Sierra Nevada does use whole cone hops that were harvested just weeks prior, versus pelletized versions transformed to last for the entire year and beyond, their “fresh hops” are dried and kilned to survive the couple weeks needed to make the trip to Sierra Nevada’s fermenter.

Celebration didn’t always dawn the term fresh hop. This photo shared with me from a Instagram follower potentially shows the point in which they made the change from 2009 to 2010:

Then later, potentially 2015, appears to be when they swapped IPA in for Ale to continue relating to the terminology resonating most with consumers. When you think about craft beer’s arc, this timing makes a lot of sense.

Who are you 𝙼̶𝚒̶𝚌̶𝚑̶𝚊̶𝚎̶𝚕̶ Celebration?

As I told Don’t Drink Beer, the “if this beer came out now” take isn’t a strong argument in my opinion. When a beer brings you joy, year after year for decades, then of course nobody can simply replicate that success in Year 1 of anything brand new, including Sierra Nevada themselves. They were early, went wide, and as such are being rewarded for sticking to their guns all these years, even when Celebration wasn’t as cool. What DDB calls nostalgia bias, I call brand equity.

We don’t need a ton of Celebration clones flooding the market either and any brewery hoping to replicate their success, even on a local level, should tame their expectations. It’s similar to how Wisconsin doesn’t need every local brewery making their own, probably more expensive, unfiltered Cream Ale. They already have Spotted Cow. Instead local breweries should develop their own well-differentiated tradition, like Richmond Virginia’s Hardywood with their GBS (Ginger Bread Stout).

And to those fighting to preserve the PNW’s sacred definition of Fresh Hop, compared to Sierra Nevada’s version that’s more friendly to their distance and scale, I completely hear you but the reality is that:

An 𝚜̶𝚑̶𝚘̶𝚎̶ IPA is just an 𝚜̶𝚑̶𝚘̶𝚎̶ IPA until somebody 𝚜̶𝚝̶𝚎̶𝚙̶𝚜̶ ̶𝚒̶𝚗̶𝚝̶𝚘̶ takes their first sip of it. Then it has meaning. The rest of us just want a chance to 𝚝̶𝚘̶𝚞̶𝚌̶𝚑̶ drink that greatness.