Summer Beers

[Ironrod]

also im excited ironrod - i managed to grab a 6 pack of the spring hop and look forward to some tonight!

Let me know what you think. I drank mine last night and it did not disappoint. Hoping to get 6 more tomorrow. Love that hoppy red ale.

[Purge]

I keep seeing this thread title and my dyslexia moves it around to read "Summer Breeze" to which my mind immediately connects to the next line in the song

"..makes me feel fine.."

[Ironrod]

Summer beers make me feel fine.

My packie is sold out of Spring Hop. Dammit.

[CeeKay]

hmmm.. looking over the Samuel Adams summer beer page makes me wonder if I'm going to be able to find the Belgian Session or East-West Kolsch.

[Rumpy]

Gah, this makes me feel sad for my local liquor store as they have very little in terms of selection. They built a refrigeration room a few years ago, and while it started out with a great selection, it's dwindled down over the years to about one or two really good selections in terms of singles, the rest being sixpacks , mainstream crap, and coolers and other shit like that. So, I get a choice between a Scottish style ale brewed locally and different varieties of Innis & Gunn. That's it. They do have a number of ESB's, but not interested in those as I don't like bitters. That's what we get for the government controlling the liquor. I'll get lucky from time to time to spot something special, but that doesn't happen very often anymore.

[Doopri]

so thanks for the heads up ironrod that was a good one.  i think one of my locals still has a few floating around so i might pick up another 6 before the weekend.  nice backbone on it too - and i swear the first sip (okay gulp) and first sip only, with frothy head still fully intact, tasted allllmost like a candy but i couldnt place which one - something like a cowtail or those little round brown things with the white bit of sugar in the middle.  after that it still had that wonderful toffee sort of malt sweetness that lingers with reds like this.  and just the right amount of a hop punch.

it actually made me feel silly for hunting down nugget nectar when it first came out this year, as i prefer this one and it would have been easier to find!

[SkyLander]

I did find Lagunitas A little Sumpin' Sumpin' at Whole Foods. Which apparently Whole Foods has an amazing beer selection compared to the liquor store. Should of just went there in the first place. I will now commence sampling these other beers.

[Isgrimnur]

I found a better selection at my local Kroger than I did a dedicated liquor store in the area.  Truly, the ways of ethanol distribution are mysterious and arcane.

[Harpua3]

hmmm.. looking over the Samuel Adams summer beer page makes me wonder if I'm going to be able to find the Belgian Session or East-West Kolsch.

The question is, do you even WANT to find those. That was a Sam Adams joke. Take that grains of paradise!

[Ironrod]

so thanks for the heads up ironrod that was a good one.  i think one of my locals still has a few floating around so i might pick up another 6 before the weekend.  nice backbone on it too - and i swear the first sip (okay gulp) and first sip only, with frothy head still fully intact, tasted allllmost like a candy but i couldnt place which one - something like a cowtail or those little round brown things with the white bit of sugar in the middle.  after that it still had that wonderful toffee sort of malt sweetness that lingers with reds like this.  and just the right amount of a hop punch.

it actually made me feel silly for hunting down nugget nectar when it first came out this year, as i prefer this one and it would have been easier to find!

I first encountered Spring Hop a couple of months ago at a favorite watering hole that had it on tap. Asked a friend (whose taste in beer I respect) there if he'd tried it. He had, and he was not enthusiastic. I think he was put off by "hop" in the name of a beer that's not hops-forward. Because this bar has an excellent and ever-changing draft selection, I passed it up in favor of something else. If Mayflower hadn't been showing it at the beer tasting I probably never would have tried it.

Glad you liked it as much as I did. Hope it comes back next spring.

[Roman]

Went to the beer store this Saturday on a whim. Picked up a 6pack of Smashbomb Atomic IPA from The Flying Monkey brewery http://theflyingmonkeys.ca - they are located up in Barrie, Ontario - about 1.5 hrs North of Toronto.
The beer was refreshingly different - the hops used in this brew they call Citra Hops - while the beer tastes like beer it has a grapefruit bitter sweet type finish. Not overpowering by any means but something that I could really enjoy while sitting by the pool.

Available in Ontario AFAIK. Give it a shot on a hot day or with a Mexican or seafood meal - good pairing options IMHO.

[El-Producto]

Went to the beer store this Saturday on a whim. Picked up a 6pack of Smashbomb Atomic IPA from The Flying Monkey brewery http://theflyingmonkeys.ca - they are located up in Barrie, Ontario - about 1.5 hrs North of Toronto.
The beer was refreshingly different - the hops used in this brew they call Citra Hops - while the beer tastes like beer it has a grapefruit bitter sweet type finish. Not overpowering by any means but something that I could really enjoy while sitting by the pool.

Available in Ontario AFAIK. Give it a shot on a hot day or with a Mexican or seafood meal - good pairing options IMHO.

Forget Smashbomb, it's inconistent as hell in bottles.  Get yourself some Muskoka Mad Tom, preferably in cans.  Amazing.

[Roman]

hmm - okay thanks I will give it a shot.

[El-Producto]

But for the record, I love Flying Monkeys (I live in Parry Sound, 1 hour away), but have found some of their recent offerings very inconsistent.  On draft, Smashbomb is amazing.. but the bottles seem to lose a LOT of the character.

[Doopri]

roman i love citra hops!  in fact the backend and (soon to be) dry hopping in my fermenting double ipa is heavy citra.