Summer heralds a bevy of lighter seasonal brews
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The new Summer Love Ale from Victory Brewing Co. of Downingtown, Pa.
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Summer isn't my favorite season for seasonal brews, which tend toward straightforward, lighter lagers and wheat and fruit-flavored beers. That said, one of my favorite beers, period, is Oberon Ale, a summer release from Bells Brewing in Michigan.
I recently had a taste of a new-to-me summery brew from that brewery called Oarsman Ale. It's Bells "session" beer -- only 4 percent alcohol by volume -- but even more interesting, it's a sour beer. Not one made Belgian-style with wild yeast, mind you, but rather, one made with a traditional German-style sour mash method. The taste -- described on the label as "buoyant, tart and refreshing" -- may be like no beer you've ever had. At least try one.
True sour beers, which are trendy again, are made with wild yeasts, but most craft brewers don't want wild yeast running amok in their breweries.
Vecenie Distributing's Tony Vecenie notes that while this is a year-round beer, it's just now hitting this market in bottles and on draft.
(For another unusual and tart taste, try the farmhouse ale, Liopard Oir -- gold leopard -- from Erie's Lavery Brewing, which should be available in Pittsburgh in a month or so. See laverybrewing.com.)
A fresh new summer beer that's already here is Summer Love Ale. Victory Brewing Co. of Downingtown, Chester County, made it last year as a draft for the City of Brotherly Love -- that is, the Greater Philadelphia Marketing and Tourism Corp. -- but this year they're releasing it much more widely as draft and in bottles. The label artwork is highly evocative of the season -- a baseball, tent, boat, etc. -- and the labels are signed with the tourism group's trademarked "With Love XOXO" phrase. The back reads in part, "Whether you're reading this label behind home plate or under a shady tree by the river, we hope that these pale malts and German hops help connect you to the magic that is summer love."
What's inside is light-bodied golden ale (5.2 percent alcohol by volume) but with a bite from an assortment of hops. As a fan of pale ales and India pales ales, I much prefer this to some of the other lighter summer lagers out there. Very nice.
First Published June 16, 2011 12:00 am
