Southern Tier's Hop Sun: the last & best beer we try...coincidence?

Last summer we discussed a variety of styles typically put out as summer beers. This year it’s time to get down to brass tacks (whatever that means!) and sample some breweries’ summer offerings.

We pick the first beer to try because its label was the most summery: Brooklyn Summer Ale. Its initial sharp bite brings you right out into a sunny summer afternoon picnic before it smooths out and takes you to a shady place. In fact, these exact words float through my head as part of the Pixie’s hit, Gigantic. Though an ale, the beer is pilsner-esque with that taste in the back of the mouth that borders on skunky. Must not be too bad though, because I quickly forget to taste it and instead debate the relative creepiness-level of this song: like, is the singer a voyeur or envious or both? And then admit that, man, it took me a long time to get that whole “hunk of love” line.

Up next is Victory’s Summer Love — far from a beer you’d get at a baseball game, despite the game-themed label. The perfect juxtaposition to Brooklyn, its bright sunny taste began smooth and ended dry. Reminiscent of a good pinot grigio. Suddenly and inexplicably I’m watching Liam Lynch’s This Town Sucks which I immediately recognize as my own teenage anthem to summertime doldrums. I think I quite like this beer and ponder what a difference a little Summer Love would have made to my seventeenth summer.

Weighing in at 5.3% abv, this next beer is actually the strongest of the evening. A common trait of the summer beers is their low alcohol level and easy drinkability, lending themselves to long weekend cookouts. Redhook’s Wise Cracker Wit also boasts the awesomest label for it’s throw-away line, “Wheat beer brewed with Ginger, but still digs Mary Ann.” Someone knew what they were doing, because that’s certainly why I picked up the beer. Here I also admit to Ben that I always identified with Ginger, despite looking more the Mary Ann role.

Wise Cracker is not as heavy and laden by fruit as most wheats I’ve had; it is light and fun, if not particularly flavorful. Its full initial taste with long lingering notes leads us to declare it a mullet beer, made all funnier when we remember it’s named “Cracker.” Ben is concerned that he may be a Gilligan, who he describes as a “complete fail,” and I reassure him he is a solid Professor.

Dogfish Head’s summer seasonal is a berliner weisbier, a style developed in Berlin that is very effervescent and refreshing. Festina Pechê looks like champagne and pops on the tongue, bubbles first then peach notes. You feel the malt more than taste it and it reminds me of Mike’s Hard Lemonade, except not gross. I don’t find the peach overwhelming and even a typically anti-peach person like Ben enjoys it.

I pour the next one and look over at Ben who’s holding his breath. “Urine!” He blurts. “There: I said it. I’ve been avoiding that word since you poured it.” Tröeg’s Sunshine Pils does is a rather unfortunate shade of yellow, but really, the same could be said about lots of beer depending on one’s vitamin intake. This beer is less pilsner-esque than Brooklyn’s Summer.  It’s light and dry, satisfying, easy-to-drink — really everything you could ask of a summer beer.

Wolaver’s Wildflower Wheat follows and is one of those beers that I recognize as being a good beer, but isn’t my style. It’s honey-sweet and would make an excellent dessert beer.

We finish off the evening with Southern Tier’s Hop Sun Summer Wheat beer. Definitely my favorite of the night. Rather than a traditional wheat it is bitter up front with a full, malty finish. It is flavorful while still being light and mellow with some bright accents. It tastes like the green and yellow last few days of school before summer vacation when everyone is giddy with the promise of three months of freedom. It is beautiful.