Summer Beers

What does "Summer Beer" mean? Is it a style or just subjective opinions of what different breweries think is a good tipple for a hot summers day? My thoughts were hoping for light and refreshing but also maybe lemon/herb flavours and not too strong.

Three beers, specially denoting "Summer" on their label...

To set the scene, a few weeks were spent waiting for a perfect summer day to crack these open. After being in the fridge for about a month, however, the wait seemed futile. So, a typical British summer evening, when we'd had the hottest weather for a few weeks, but conversely had torrential downpours and that muggy pre thunderstorm atmosphere, ended up being the scene for the experiment. Typically missing the actually good weather that's has been happening this week.





139: Anchor Summer Beer, Anchor Brewing Company, 4.5%
Smell malty. Slight sweetness. Pale colour. Tastes malty. Lager like. Dry. Does what it says on the tin. Quite carbonated. Meets my brief. Perfect BBQ beer. Not a deep thinker but fits requirement. Lightish. Refreshing yes.


140: Summertime Kölsch, Goose Island Beer Company, 4.7%

Smells slightly sweet but not particularly of much. Slight cloudiness. It wasn't served it in the correct glass (according to the bottle, but I have no idea what a Kölsch glass is). Tastes slightly wheat beery and lagery. Not a load of flavour, and not robust. Refreshing still though. Light.

141: Summer Ale, Brooklyn Brewery, 5%
Smells more malty. More golden in colour. Tastes more hoppy. Overall has more flavour than the other summer beers Very very refreshing. Despite this, initially my impression was that it is not really for me. Although I enjoyed it more the more I drank. Just my taste though I think. Slight salty bacon flavour. Fits the bill. Is summery but I prefer the Anchor.

None quite met my expectations (perhaps unfounded and presumptuous)... i.e lemony herby flavours.... But all were certainly refreshing and very drinkable on a hot summers day with a BBQ. Sort of like lagers with a hint of something special. Just need to wait for a hot summers day to come around and will buy some more!

A Complete Beernewbie: The Experiment

Beernewbie, aka my lovely sister, willingly (unwittingly perhaps) signed up to a challenge. She's never drunk beer, except for a couple of times about four years ago in Thailand, but that's a story for another day. Vodka & coke, or Archer's & lemonade are her usual tipple's of choice. I'm a newbie, but at least had drunk and enjoyed beer before, albeit in the past being as weak and pale as possible. I wanted to see if we could open her mind up about beer, maybe get her to like it, or at least realise that there is a great variety of beers available.

Knowing her well, I chose a couple of fruit beers to get started.

118: Fruitesse, Brouwerij Liefmans, 4.2%
"Fine" I believe was the response... later this developed to "niceish". Another comment was "not too beery". She was right, it's fruit character gave so much flavour it didn't hide the malt tastes, but didn't force you to concentrate on them. Personally I quite liked it, it wasn't over sweet, and it did what it said on the tin.

119: Hoegaarden Rosee, Brouwerij van Hoegaarden, 3%
A raspberry flavoured witbier. Beernewbie thought this was easy to drink, but was less keen than Fruitesse. To me it was too sweet, and tasted not of beer but more like fizzy raspberry pop, and the alcohol content was invisible. It surprised me that Beernewbie's preference was for the one that actually tasted like a beer, and that she wasn't touting for the almost alcopop taste of the Hoegaarden.

Next up. Error. I'm not counting this for me as have tried it before. Windermere Pale, Hawkshead, 6%. My recollection of this was tropical fruity peachy hops. The idea was to introduce a non-fruit beer into the mix with one that had fruity hop edge. Beernewbie said that it smelt nice, but that she wasn't expecting the taste that ensued. A face was pulled that was worth of Juffage's blog, unfortunately I didn't have the camera handy! A bad choice, far too bitter so early on in the evening for Beernewbie. She did concede that it improved after a few mouthfuls, but she still didn't like it.

Innis & Gunn Rum Cask, Innis & Gunn, 7.4% A pretty strong beer for a beginner, but the toffee caramel, sweet but not too sweet flavours, and the lack of bitterness meant that Beernewbie quite liked this. She still preferred the first fruit beer, but said she would willingly drink this again if provided with it!

Next were a couple of beers as recommended by Filrd and Matt Curtis. India Pale Ale, Goose Island Beer Co., 5.9%. Beernewbie didn't like this as much as the Innis & Gunn, but she didn't dislike it like she did Windermere Pale. Orange, citrusy aromas and tastes and a pithy orange bitterness. The verdict was "this is ok". Now, I know that isn't overjoyed praise, but coming from Beernewbie, that is pretty impressive I think.

120: Pale Ale, Sierra Nevada, 5.6%
She didn't like this as much, even though it was slightly less bitter than the Goose Island. It was drunk though!

Chocolate Porter, Meantime, 6.5%. Again, another beer I've tried before. This time around I got more hints of coffee and hazelnut than I did chocolate, but still a really yummy porter. Beernewbie liked this beer. Still, didn't surpass the favourite first beer, but she liked it.

There were a couple of other beers sampled during the evening which Beernewbie tried, including a pretty pricey bottle from Marble. This, she quite liked (again, a pretty decent compliment really!). Will post about these later.

Clearly, for a non-beer drinker, the off putting flavour was heavy bitterness, and this was what Beernewbie kept describing as "beery". The less bitter, the more she liked it. Beernewbie did say, that she would be up for sampling again, although maybe that was the beer talking! She is still not a beer lover, but there is a smidgen of hope! Thanks Beernewbie for keeping an open mind and putting up with this beer geek!

Lake District

This weekend I visited the Lake District with the family. Not normally an excuse for ticking lots of different beers but since the challenge waits for no man (or woman) I did my best. The cottage we rented was simple, lovely, and was very secluded which did not lend itself to driving to a pub (it took  20 minutes of negotiating precarious single track lanes just to reach the main road!). So we took along some beers for the first night. As I was there to spend time with family, whilst we chatted about beer quite a bit, I concentrated more on company than making notes, but here goes!

32: Sneck Lifter, Jennings, 5.1%
Shared a bottle (as chosen by Dad). It was slightly stouty, a dark ale. A fine start, and a local offering.

33: Inedit, Estrella Damm, 4.8%
This was a beer Mr T had never heard of before, a Belgian style Wheat beer, from Spain. The label stated that it specially designed to be paired with food by a collaboration with the brewery and some top chefs and sommeliers from El Bulli restaurant. We served it according to instructions re temperature and glass type, however, weren't pairing it with food so can't comment on it's success at this! It had fruity, citrusy smells. I am not sure if I am a fan of wheat beer. I didn't dislike it, but I just didn't seem to enjoy it as much as other beers I have been trying.



34: India Pale Ale, Meantime, 7.4%
Caramely smell, something fruity. Malty flavours, and very bitter. A nice IPA.

35: Chocolate Porter, Meantime, 6.5%
Another offering from Meantime, we have liked this brewery since visiting them in Greenwich a couple of years ago. The chocolate porter was certainly chocolatey, just my cup of tea and an excellent beer to round up the evening. The rest of the family who all had a sniff and a taste were most impressed by this of all the beers of the night.

The following day we went to Hawkshead Brewery and had a tour around, but there is so much to write about that, I will save it for it's own post. Saturday evening we were stuck for what to do/eat/drink. A quick Internet search suggested the Watermill Inn at Ings for food and drinks. The pub was awarded UK Beer Pub of the Year 2011 by the Good Pub Guide, and had some standard good old pub grub to go with it. It is actually a microbrewery, and had many of their beers available on cask to sample. All of their beers have a dog theme... Colly Wobbles, Dog'th Vader and Ruff Whatever. Unfortunately, I was driving and only tried a half of one of their offerings, Colly Wobbles

36: Colly Wobbles, The Watermill Inn and Brewing Co., 3.7%
I believe this is what is known as a session beer. Low in abv, easy to drink, tasty, and a good accompaniment to my beef pie.

I've been finding it hard knowing where to place beers like this on my enjoyment scale, because whilst fine beers, they lack the intensity and oomph of some of the hoppy numbers or malty dark stouts. However, I think I've learnt something. This is the first time since the challenge began that I didn't think too hard about what I was drinking and let myself enjoy the simple pleasure. It was the perfect accompaniment to food, company and a low ABV. I wouldn't have tried anything stronger, and anything more intense would have needed careful pairing with the food.

Later, at the cottage, back to the bottles.

37: India Pale Ale, Goose Island, 5.9%
Another IPA, was very good. Really made few notes on this beer due to enjoying company too much!

38: Asahi Black, Asahi Original Brew, 5%
My first Japanese beer, ever, I think, let alone of the challenge. Tried this straight after the Goose Island, and to be honest was taken aback a bit. Was too intense for me, and I let Mr T finish it off. Not sure if this was due to what I was drinking earlier, or just not really liking the style or the particular beer. Mr T enjoyed it though. Would like to try this again, or something similar.

I'm glad of this weekend, glad of taking a step back from trying to analyse what I am drinking. It has reminded me not to over think beer tasting and remember why I am doing this blog in the first place: to try beer, enjoy beer, and perhaps learn something along the way.

It was a lovely weekend and I would recommend to anyone that they come explore the wonderful countryside.