Summer Beers: Do We Have To?

The approaching summer season should be viewed as a great opportunity to enjoy the warm weather and abundant sun, perhaps having a beer or two on a patio with friends and family as sunlight remains past the 8:00 hour.  But summer also means lighter tasting seasonal beers—pilsners, lagers, wheat beers, and fruit beers.  With a few exceptions, I’m mostly disappointed by such offerings.  For most pilsners, lagers, and wheat beers—even those produced by craft breweries—I have trouble finding what makes them more distinct than similar products produced by the macro breweries, which I don’t care for anyway.  Fruitier beers often sound interesting, and who doesn’t like some good fruit flavor, but what passes for fruit flavor in beer—and not accents to hops and malts—often to me tastes artificial and weak. I think, simply put, I just don’t care for the styles of summer beer.

So, even though it’s summer and my palate should be looking for crisp, light, refreshing beers, I still find myself wanting my usual favorites.  IPAs, stouts, Belgian ales.  Other than some seasonals, IPAs and the Belgians are pretty much made year round.  Generally speaking, there are probably more fall/winter seasonal stouts out there, and a dark beer such as a stout can be firmly associated with the cold winter months, but many fine stouts are made year round as well.  Basically, while I’m open to trying something new, I want the dry bitter hops that I find in IPAs and the chocolate and coffee malt flavors that I find in stouts.  I don’t care about what the calendar says.  For me, these are rich, exquisite flavors that should be enjoyed year round.  Don’t look at me funny when it’s 95 degrees, the sun is frying eggs on the asphalt, and I’m pouring a can of oil black Ten FIDY that I’ve been saving since the previous fall.

If you made me drink a beer that had to meet summer beer criteria, I’d probably go with Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier, though it’s not a summer seasonal but a world class, year-round offering.  Sam Adams Double Agent IPL wouldn’t be a bad choice either, as it’s a good mix of a maltier lager and hoppier IPA.  The classics--Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Sam Adams Boston Lager, and Anchor Steam Beer--hold up well also, as they are relatively light on the palate yet still tasty and reasonably sessionable.

Craft Beer Conversion?

I think sometimes with craft beer, it's tempting to want to win new converts to those great beers you love.  The people that you're trying to convert aren't people who don't have an interest in beer but rather those who drink the macro products (Coors, Budweiser, Miller, etc.).  You want to show them that, hey, you say you like beer, but try this one, which will blow away what you think about beer and make you see even the blue sky above you in a different way!  Maybe this might work in some cases, but in general, I think this is a faulty approach.  In fact, I'm not even sure any approach is necessary.

The fact is, many people just like what they're currently drinking and aren't looking to make a change.  They find it tasty and refreshing.   It's the perfect thing for them at the end of a long day or week.  Maybe it's economical for them.  Complexities and nuances in flavor might not be anything they're concerned with.  There are likely many different reasons.  Why not just let them enjoy what they enjoy and you enjoy what you enjoy?

For me, I think the best thing for the craft beer lover is to continually try different beers and gain knowledge about beer.  Develop your palate and learn about the various styles,  the history of beer, what's going on with contemporary beer, and the process behind making beer even if you don't intend to ever make any yourself.  That way, if a conversation turns to beer, you'll be well prepared and represent what you like quite well, and maybe this will help people see craft beer in a different light.  In my opinion, being a craft beer ambassador is more important than trying to convert people.

If you're still really bent on converting, I think you have to view getting people to craft beer as a gradual process.  If someone has not gone beyond, say, Coors Light, do you think they're going to like a Green Flash Palate Wrecker the first time they have one?  If someone's experience with stout begins and ends with Guinness, do you think they'll appreciate a Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout?  Consider how you got into craft beer and work from that.

I think the Samuel Adams regular line of beers provides a good gateway into craft (particularly Boston Lager, one of The Classics, all of which are a good starting point), and they're available pretty much everywhere (which may have already laid the groundwork for you--how many non-craft beer drinkers have at least had a Sam Adams?). New Belgium Fat Tire is another good gateway beer too.  During the fall season, the various pumpkin beers that are available could serve as nice entries as well, as they combine some familiar flavors with some solid if muted beer tastes.  

Stouts: Beyond St. Patrick's Day and Pints of Guinness

St. Patrick's Day will always exist as a day to get your Irish on, head to your local Irish pub, dine on fish and chips and soda bread and down some pints of Guinness while wall pictures of James Joyce and Samuel Beckett look upon you from the grave and the band at the far end is playing "Danny Boy" to a singalong crowd.

Guinness, the most famous stout in the world, has always been something of a marker.  You have one in your hand and you're perhaps making a statement that the standard light-colored lagers are too weak for you.  You might get a reaction from someone such as, how can you drink that?  If you're drinking on days other than St. Patrick's Day and in places other than Irish pubs, you're definitely setting yourself apart.  Some might even say you're on the road to craft beerdom.

There's nothing wrong with a Guinness.  It's widely available, quite drinkable with a nice smooth yet somewhat complex taste, and, surprisingly, fairly reasonable in terms of calories.  But there's a lot more out there beyond Ireland, and there's a great diversity of substyles and tastes.  Here are a few you should be able to find:

Bar Harbor Cadillac Mountain Stout 
This stout has notes of milk chocolate, coffee, malt, and, to a lesser degree, hops and caramel to the nose.  Tasting very much like it smells, with mild but consistent chocolate and coffee, and malt and caramel coming through on the back end.  It's fairly balanced and smooth, with good proportioned tastes that aren't overwhelming.  Almost like a mellow liqueur. 

Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout

Comes in a 550 ml (18.5 oz) bottle and fares from England.  Pours dark black with a bubbly beige head that is quite thick and puffy.  Chocolate, caramel, oatmeal, coffee, spice, malt notes on the sniffer.  Taste is rich, with a mix of oatmeal, chocolate, mild coffee, caramel, and mild spice (much like it smells).  It's smooth and creamy with almost a milk-like quality to it, with light bubbles and good thickness.  Superbly balanced.  Easy to drink.  Low in ABV.  A classic that's widely available and relatively inexpensive.

Victory Storm King Stout

Storm King has nose notes of hops, malt, coffee, and caramel.  On the palate, you can pick up hops, coffee, chocolate, some oak, and some mild spice.  Even as with a 9% ABV, no alcohol taste comes through.  Quite smooth, with a good thickness and creamy texture coming through.  One of the best out there for an inexpensive price.

Other stouts to seek out: Founders Breakfast Stout, Stone Imperial Russian Stout, Hoppin' Frog B.O.R.I.S. The Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout, Old Dominion Dominion Oak Barrel Stout, Anderson Valley Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout, Bear Republic Big Bear Black Stout.  Guinness also makes a Foreign Extra Stout, which is much more tasty and complex than its standard stout.  It stacks up well with some of the other stouts mentioned. 

Too Many Beers, Not Enough Time (or Money)

I was just having this conversation with a guy working at a local store: too many beers, not enough time to try them all.  Even more, not enough money to try them all.  Yes, the age-old conundrum that appears in many parts of life.  Somehow, we never seem to be rich, have lots of free time, or live forever.

The beer selection at a good store can be overwhelming.  What's one to do?  Say you've got a bunch of IPAs or stouts or pumpkin ales at home--do you really need to buy more?  You're suffering from a lack of imports in your stock—do you go Belgium, England, Germany and make your home supply more UN?  Do you get more of what you like, more of what you've yet to try, more of the highly rated, more of that one brewery you really like?  Those seasonals won't be around long—better stock up on those!  And there's that limited edition, 22 oz bottle that's priced more than everything else you have combined—do you get that, justify it with the notion that it won't be here the next time you come?  You're looking at a wall of 200+ beers and you're getting maybe 12, which means you've got to make choices. 

So, here's what I do, always subject to change: tune out the questions, go for a mixed sixer or two, mix up the styles, grab at least one seasonal and one local/regional, and go 60/40 new/previously had.  If you just want all new in your mixed sixers, grab a four or six pack of something you've previously had and liked.  Make it to the counter, purchase, and don't look back.  Inevitably on the drive home you'll be thinking about one you didn't get.  But don't worry--there's always next time.