“It’s simply coincidental that the two beers [of the Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Across America 12-pack] going into cans are bocks,” says Wayne Wambles, the brewmaster at Cigar City Brewing in Tampa, Florida. His collaboration with Sierra Nevada is a maibock called Yonder Bock.
“We selected cans as a package because we [believe] they are a superior package for beer. It is our package of choice,” says Wambles.
“Yonder Bock is my interpretation of an American Heller (or Mai) Bock,” he continues. “It has a weathered gold color and, unlike traditional Heller Bocks, it has more hop character.”
Sierra Nevada and Cigar City used Azacca, Equinox, Calypso, and Lemon Drop hops to brew this beer. “I wanted to incorporate a tropical element to add a Florida feel to the beer,” Wambles says. He did so by using new and experimental hop varieties: Azacca, a dwarf hop variety with guava notes; Equinox hops (formerly referred to as HBC366) for ripe mango characteristics; and a blend of Calypso and Lemon Drop to achieve another tropical element. “By themselves, [the hops] aren't very tropical but once they are blended together, they are quite nice,” Wambles says. Lemon Drop actually smells just like the candy it refers to and Calypso hops bring green Bartlett pear, Golden Delicious apple, and freesia flower characteristics to the beer.
In a Sierra Nevada blog, Wayne explained that even with all of the hop additions, this beer is not excessively bitter. “There’s enough malt backbone to make it luscious.”
“The overall concept is to make a beer that has a pleasant malt foundation (I incorporated some honey malt to make the hop character more succulent) supported by lush tropical fruit characteristics provided by the hops,” says Wambles. “I was going for beer ambrosia . . . tropical nectar.”