Wacko Summer Seasonal
Wrapping up my current batch of summer brews is Magic Hat Brewing Company's Wacko Summer Seasonal. This is definitely one of the more uniquely colored beers I have had in a while. It poured with a nice thick head and an interesting reddish color in the glass. Wacko is brewed in the style of an English Ale and fermented with an addition of beet sugar to produce the color and unique sweetness of this hot day thirst quencher. At 4.5% ABV and only 15 IBUs, this sweet malty brew makes a great choice in the heat of late July and early August. It's a very light bodied thirst quencher that I highly recommend giving a try. From the website:
Crisp like the morning, cool like the evening and quenching all day long. It's the beer that dances to the beat of summer. Pop the top and set your summer loose. Wacko is the song of summer.
The availability of this beer may make it difficult to find... Grab a sixer if you see one sitting in a beer cooler somewhere :)
Anderson Valley Summer Solstice
On my last trip to Gail's Hops and Grapes, I picked up a couple different summer seasonal beers that I thought I would try out. Today's sample is from the Anderson Valley Brewing Company in Boonville, California. The Summer Solstice Cerveza Crema is rather nice cream ale that poured with a nice copper color and a thick head. The head subsided rather quickly, but a thin, non-lacing foam hung around the edge of the glass for the duration of the drink. Summer Solstice has a very nice sweet malty flavor to go along with the light body of a summer cream ale. From the bottle:
Welcome to Summer Solstice! This copper colored ale is smooth, malty, and lightly sweet with a delicate hint of spice for that oh-so-drinkable, extra velvety flavor. The character is lighter in body than its cousin, our wildly popular Winter Solstice Seasonal Ale. This is a silky, creamy dream, perfect as a warm weather beer. But why call it Cerveza Crema? Two reasons: One, this beer has become a favorite among many of our Hispanic friends, so it's named in their honor. Two, it sounds cool, and cool is what you want when it's hot. Serve at 40-45 degrees Fahrenheit for the most optimal flavor and enjoyment.
I started out with mine at the 43 degree mark, but I believe the flavor improves significantly at about 50 degrees, as do most lighter bodied beers. Summer Solstice is also on the higher end of alcohol content for what I would consider to be a really great summer beer. At 5.6% ABV, this isn't a beer you would want to drink all afternoon if you don't have a ride home ;)
7/26/09 – Brew Day
I brewed a 5-gallon batch of a blonde ale this afternoon (see LOG link on the right if you want the details of the recipe and other stuff). This was my first opportunity to use the Igloo 5-gallon water cooler that I converted to a mash tun. Everything worked nicely and the cooler held my mash at the proper temperatures for 75 minutes with the use of the foam insulation block in place. I lost less than 1 degree during the 75 minute mash.
This photo shows the stainless steel braid manifold in this mash tun. This braid worked really well and the vorlauf process seems to be a lot quicker with this braid compared to the copper tubing manifold in my other MLT.
I originally intended to bottle the beer from my last brew today, but I was too hot and tired after I finished brewing to do that, so I might let that amber ale sit for another week in the secondary fermenter. I'm gonna let today's brew ferment in primary for 14 days and then bottle it with no secondary fermentation. I guess I could let the amber sit for two more weeks and bottle them both on the same day. The amber would probably benefit from the extra aging, so we'll just see what happens.
Skinny Dip
I went up to Gail's Hops and Grapes this afternoon to pick up a couple sixers to cover me for the weekend since my homebrew stash is getting rather low. I decided to try out a couple new summer seasonals beginning with New Belgium Brewing's Skinny Dip Beer.
As I was reading the label on the Skinny Dip, I saw something that really struck me as being odd in the beer world. This beer is labeled as a summer seasonal brew which traditionally means you have a lighter bodied beer that is a little lower than normal in alcohol and normally seasoned with a hint of fruit. This beer, however, plainly stated "full-bodied." That comment made me curious, so I decided to give it a try.
Skinny Dip pours with a rich golden color and a nice foamy head that sticks around in a thinner form for the entire glass. This is a sweet malty beer with some noticeable hop presence, but the kaffir lime comes through in the aroma a little more than in the flavor, but it does show a presence. My opinion of the body of this brew is not quite "full" but a little more on the medium side. At 4.2% ABV, this beer is what I like to call a summer quaffer or even a lawnmower beer. You can work this brew all afternoon without getting too sloshed to do anything else ;)
I'm still looking forward to brewing my own 'summer quaffer' on Sunday afternoon...
Gordon Biersch Märzen
Today's sample is another from the Gordon Biersch Brewing Company in San Jose, California. As for explaining the name of this beer, I'll just quote from the website:
Our most popular beer, Märzen is a smooth, mildly sweet, auburn colored lager. This beer originates from Barvaria where it was brewed in March ("Märzen" in German) and stored in caves to be enjoyed during warmer weather. At the end of September, any remaining kegs of Märzen were consumed during the two week celebration which became known as Oktoberfest.
This beer pours with a beautiful amber hue and a nice head that sticks around. The taste is accented by a wonderfully sweet caramel flavor and a mild hop presence. It rings in at 5.7% ABV.
My attempt back in January to brew this style was only minimally successful. My color was way off and the flavor profile is a little too much on the roasted side. The beer tastes good, but it doesn't fit this profile like I wanted it to. I'm going to make another attempt at it sometime in the future, probably in March just for nostalgic purposes. Märzen is traditionally a lager, but since I'm not equipped to ferment a lager properly, I will be making an ale version once again. I think my switch to the all-grain brewing format will help me properly brew this style in the future...
Copperhead Ale
Today's sampling is Fordham Brewing Company's Copperhead Ale. When I saw this beer on the shelf, I decided to give it a try simply because I hadn't heard of the brewery before. Copperhead Ale is made in the style of the German Altbier. It poured with a rich copper color and a short head that subsided rather quickly. The beer has a very sweet and smooth flavor created by the use of caramel malts in the brewing process. The 30 IBU rating boasted by this beer is quite subdued and the claim of balance leans heavily towards the malty side. It also rings in at 4.7% ABV.
The German Altbier is a German style brown ale traditionally. The "Alt" literally translates to "old" and these beers are traditionally aged for longer periods of time before serving.
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