After a week of extraordinary temperatures, absurd humidity, and a single window unit running at full blast in my apartment, we were in no mood to stop drinking summery beers. Try as we might, neither of us was able to resist temptation and stay indoors working during these balmy evenings. It's weather for flip-flops, cut-offs, picnics, and summer beers. So this week continues our foray into the summer's...er...coldest brews. This time we're looking at two locals that looked like they might be able to quench our thirst and help us to bear (or at least forget!) that you could cook an egg on the pavement. Enjoy!
Paul: Just when you thought that hop bombs and high gravity brews had cornered the market, the session ale was reborn as a lighter alternative. Low alcohol, unadorned by weird spices or gigantic hops, session ales have become the hot style in the beer world. For these reasons, you can drink a lot more of these in a "session" with your pals without getting toasty, and still endure the mind-numbing heat outside. However, this is a beer you have to get right. There's no hiding behind additives or flavorings, and you can tell a lot about a brewery by their skill in pulling it off. Peak Organic's version out of Maine didn't disappoint, with a fine malt/hop ration, light mouthfeel, and crisp flavor. This is a beer with a subtle balance, and fine malty sweetness on the back of the palate. I'm sold.
Amy: If I had to pick a single specimen to represent the category of summer beers, I might just pick this session ale. It's truly classic. It's slightly malty and very hoppy (Paul disagreed with me on both counts, calling it very malty and not hoppy at all) with floral and citrus notes. Normally I don't enjoy too much hoppiness, but this beer manages to bring out the flavor without having it be overwhelming. There's lots of flavor here and each sip brings out something new, like the clean, sharp taste of apple. The beer is light enough to be refreshing -- not bogged down with extra fruits or spices --- but unlike other summer beers it's not so light as to be boring.
Paul- 4 stars
Amy: It's rare for Paul and I to agree twice in one post. We taste beers together and discuss them as we drink, but then we go our separate ways to write up our reviews. Reading his here, I realize we've come to not only the same conclusion, but also the same way of expressing it!
Paul: Had I known this was a 7% beer when I picked it up, I might not have tasted it alongside Peak Organic's session ale. This just goes to show the weird marketing of this beer. The beer is called "American Darling" and has a lawnmower pictured on the label. The style is a lager (a "Good Time Lager" if the label is to be believed), but nothing like the type of American lager most people are familiar with (most beer produced in the U.S. is a lager style). Instead, the beer is big, malty, and powerfully alcoholic. If you drink one or two of these in the heat, you're definitely going to find yourself thinking of it as a "Good Time Lager"! Not that this beer isn't delicious (we love Pretty Things over here), but boy was I expecting something different. The pale yellow of this beer belies its big malty backbone, and there is a definite taste of heat on the back of the palate. It felt a lot more like an Imperial Pilsner than an American lager style, and I'd go ahead and say that they need to give people a better idea of what to expect here. All in all, I wasn't unhappy...but save this for the (air-conditioned) brew-pub.
Amy again: We were tasting summer beers. I saw a beer named 'American Darling'. It called itself a "good time lager." There was a lawnmower on the bottle. The Pretty Things Project isn't known for light, summery beers, but that just added to my interest. I watched the pale golden lager get poured into my glass, took a sip, and was blown away by the rich -- heavy even -- sweet and malty flavor. I guess it's my fault for not reading the fine print, but this was not what I expected.
I'd call the American Darling a thoroughly non-American, Bavarian-style beer. It was surprisingly sweet and malty. Later I read the bottle in detail and discovered that it is branded as the "anti-lawnmower beer" and found that the image on the label has little vines growing over the lawnmower as if to say, "you won't be mowing any lawns after being smacked upside the head with this 7% abv!" I wouldn't drink this beer at a summer BBQ, which was my original standard for these summer beer tastings, it's far too rich for that. However, now that I know what to expect I enjoy it on sultry nights at open air bars, because, like all Pretty Things, it's delicious.
Paul- 4 stars
View this post on our new blog: http://paulandamyonbeer.com/2012/07/30/summer-part-2/
Summer Session Ale
By Peak Organic Brewing Company
Summer session ale - 5% ABV - Portland, MEPaul: Just when you thought that hop bombs and high gravity brews had cornered the market, the session ale was reborn as a lighter alternative. Low alcohol, unadorned by weird spices or gigantic hops, session ales have become the hot style in the beer world. For these reasons, you can drink a lot more of these in a "session" with your pals without getting toasty, and still endure the mind-numbing heat outside. However, this is a beer you have to get right. There's no hiding behind additives or flavorings, and you can tell a lot about a brewery by their skill in pulling it off. Peak Organic's version out of Maine didn't disappoint, with a fine malt/hop ration, light mouthfeel, and crisp flavor. This is a beer with a subtle balance, and fine malty sweetness on the back of the palate. I'm sold.
Amy: If I had to pick a single specimen to represent the category of summer beers, I might just pick this session ale. It's truly classic. It's slightly malty and very hoppy (Paul disagreed with me on both counts, calling it very malty and not hoppy at all) with floral and citrus notes. Normally I don't enjoy too much hoppiness, but this beer manages to bring out the flavor without having it be overwhelming. There's lots of flavor here and each sip brings out something new, like the clean, sharp taste of apple. The beer is light enough to be refreshing -- not bogged down with extra fruits or spices --- but unlike other summer beers it's not so light as to be boring.
Paul- 4 stars
Amy - 4 stars
Total -
American Darling
By Pretty Things
Good time lager - 7% ABV- Westport, MAAmy: It's rare for Paul and I to agree twice in one post. We taste beers together and discuss them as we drink, but then we go our separate ways to write up our reviews. Reading his here, I realize we've come to not only the same conclusion, but also the same way of expressing it!
Paul: Had I known this was a 7% beer when I picked it up, I might not have tasted it alongside Peak Organic's session ale. This just goes to show the weird marketing of this beer. The beer is called "American Darling" and has a lawnmower pictured on the label. The style is a lager (a "Good Time Lager" if the label is to be believed), but nothing like the type of American lager most people are familiar with (most beer produced in the U.S. is a lager style). Instead, the beer is big, malty, and powerfully alcoholic. If you drink one or two of these in the heat, you're definitely going to find yourself thinking of it as a "Good Time Lager"! Not that this beer isn't delicious (we love Pretty Things over here), but boy was I expecting something different. The pale yellow of this beer belies its big malty backbone, and there is a definite taste of heat on the back of the palate. It felt a lot more like an Imperial Pilsner than an American lager style, and I'd go ahead and say that they need to give people a better idea of what to expect here. All in all, I wasn't unhappy...but save this for the (air-conditioned) brew-pub.
Amy again: We were tasting summer beers. I saw a beer named 'American Darling'. It called itself a "good time lager." There was a lawnmower on the bottle. The Pretty Things Project isn't known for light, summery beers, but that just added to my interest. I watched the pale golden lager get poured into my glass, took a sip, and was blown away by the rich -- heavy even -- sweet and malty flavor. I guess it's my fault for not reading the fine print, but this was not what I expected.
I'd call the American Darling a thoroughly non-American, Bavarian-style beer. It was surprisingly sweet and malty. Later I read the bottle in detail and discovered that it is branded as the "anti-lawnmower beer" and found that the image on the label has little vines growing over the lawnmower as if to say, "you won't be mowing any lawns after being smacked upside the head with this 7% abv!" I wouldn't drink this beer at a summer BBQ, which was my original standard for these summer beer tastings, it's far too rich for that. However, now that I know what to expect I enjoy it on sultry nights at open air bars, because, like all Pretty Things, it's delicious.
Paul- 4 stars
Amy - 3.5 stars
Total -
View this post on our new blog: http://paulandamyonbeer.com/2012/07/30/summer-part-2/
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