Citra Blonde 2013

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Citra Blonde (2013)

• Brewery: Widmer Brothers Brewing (Oregon)

• Style: Blonde

• ABV: 4.3%

• IBU: 20

• Pour Color: A Golden easily seen thru pour with a nice fluffy head!

      This one was a golden color and had a fluffy head. Seemed a little extra fizzy. The head disapeared quick and left no trace though. The scent off the top was more wheat scented malts then anything else. The citra hops lend a slight lemon scent. The flavor is slightly bitter citrus notes and a wheat malt flavor. Really a typical summer beer that's light and easy to drink.
      Another beer of summer that really just fits in instead of stands out. It's light and not overly bitter or overly sweet. Instead of using the lemon that all the other beers of summer use though they create it with the citra. Refreshing, crisp, and clean and would make a good golf course beer. Can't really see taking a deep in it otherwise though.

Rating: ***

Smuttynose Summer Weizen

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Summer Weizen Ale

• Brewery: SmuttyNose Brewing Company (Delaware)

• Style: Wheat Beer

• ABV: 5.46%

• IBU:15

• Pour Color:A nice see through golden color, very bright! Slight hazy look.

      The pour of this one was a nice gold color and had a finger and a half high head. The head didn't stick around to long. It had a nice yeasty wheat scent off the top. Held up to the light you notice a nice slight haze. A nice strong taste of wheat and yeast up front. The hoppyness starts coming through as a nice citrus grassy tone. A slightly sour to this one makes it quite refreshing actually. I really liked this beer. 
      The Summer Weizen is another summer wheat beer. I feel bad I didn't find it earlier this summer. It's got that nice wheat taste you would expect and a lot of hop character. The sour dough taste at the end is just enough to be delicious and refreshing. Summer is a great season for seasonal beers!

Rating: ****1/2

Festina Peche

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Festina peche

• Brewery: DogFish Head Brewing Company (Delaware)

• Style: Berliner Weisse

• ABV: 4.5

• IBU: 8

• Pour Color: A nice golden slightly green color and with the slightest fog to the glass.

      Just as the Face opens the bottle I get a nice scent off this one. A nice peach scent is easily smelled before it's poured. The pour came out golden and slightly hazy. It still can be seen through easy. The head was about a finger high for a few seconds before it disappeared. The scent off the glass was a little more of a fresh sour dough and peach mix. This one is a sour wheat beer and tastes like it. The peach though really makes a weird balance that seems to work. The echo of the wheat on the after taste is my favorite part of this one. Really a decent summer seasonal. 
      This one is a nice little seasonal that some really wouldn't enjoy. The sour is certainly in the taste of this one. While to me Apollo was overpoweringly sour, I didn't get that from this sour beer. It had enough bread and peach to give it a crispness and a balance. That nice peach flavor makes it quite refreshing for a summer swim in.

Rating: ****

Apollo

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Apollo

• Brewery: Sixpoints Brewing Company (New York)

• Style: Krystalweizen

• ABV: 5.2

• IBU:11

• Pour Color: A light yellow color, Has a cloudiness

      A summer wheat again and another totally different take on it. Smelling the top you get that nice clove scent, a fresh bread too,  and then a weird fruity medley. The head fluffed up quick and was gone quickly. No match for this mustache. The color was a real hazy gold. The taste I found very offsetting from the get go. This is supposed to be a sour style but this was beyond what I enjoy. It was more a banana cider taste then anything else. A fruit medley flavor with a backing of the clove. Vary strange and not to delicious to me. I could see where some could find this refreshing but I didn't. 
      This just wasn't my type of wheat beer. The only Krystalweizen i've ever had I can't really compare. Being a almost hefe but then brightening it with a lot of fruit flavors that just overpowers the beer taste to me. This would be a great beer to cook with but drinking it again really isn't on the Face's agenda so I won't be swimming in it soon...

Rating: *

Summerbright Ale

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Summerbright Ale

• Brewery: Breckenridge Brewing Company (Colorado)

• Style: Wheat Beer

• ABV: 4.5%

• IBU: 15

• Pour Color: Golden, light can easily pass through.

      This one poured like a champ for the Face and I was anxious to take a swim! The head was fluffy and actually quite thick for a summer wheat beer. The head hung around for a good while too. The color was light golden was nearly transparent. The scent off the glass was a wheat one of course. A slight hint of citrus in there too. The beer it self is very light bodied and ballenced well. It has a nice sweetness in the malts. A very wheat flavor too. The citrus kick is what makes this refreshing. It gives it a crispness in flavor that works really well to just give a little bitter. I really enjoyed this summer ale. 
      Another summer seasonal and another really good beer. With Sam Adams summer you get hit with lemon hard. Now, myself, I really enjoy it. This one doesn't do that though. The orange and the lemon peel mix well to give a great flavor.  Most the summer ales I've reviewed don't fall under 5% abv. This is a great easy drinking ale that won't knock you on your butt on those 95 degree days. Also a real delightful kick of citrus that gives it character. Treat your mustache (upper lip) to a dip in it today!

Rating: ****

Summer Love

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Summer Love

• Brewery: Victory Brewing Company (Pennsylvania)

• Style: American Blonde Ale

• ABV: 5.2%

• IBU:

• Pour Color: A nice golden yellow color easily seen through.

      The pour made me curl just a little bit extra. A perfect, nearly clear golden color, with a nice head. The head was about two fingers high, this one would sit at the top of the glass for awhile. The scent off the top was a piney grassy scent with a malty hint. Slightly higher carbonation then most beers. This one has a thicker body then you would expect by color. The hops really come through in a verity of tones on the taste. Pine grassy tastes are there but you also get a nice citrus that compliments a lemon tone. You also have a nice biscuity taste to the malts that just give the hops a nice back ground. This is a great beer for summer.
      Being a hop head, this is the beer I love this summer. It just seems to have that perfect balance of hops and malts this season to make a blonde ale something interesting. With most seasonal I'm happy to see a rotation. Something new or different just as the seasons change. This one I'm going to miss. Luckily you got Hop Devil and Hop Wallop to get you though!

Rating: *****

BlueBerry Blonde Ale

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: BlueBerry Blonde Ale

• Brewery: Saranac Brewing Company (New York)

• Style: Fruit Beer

• ABV:5.0%

• IBU: 18

• Pour Color: Golden but hazzy, can't see through it.

      The pour was golden and hazzy. A malty blueberry scent off the top of the glass. The head was nice and fluffy and only hung out for a few sips. The taste is not over overbearingly blueberry tasting. It's in the sip but it's light. You notice more tones of the wheat malts and oats that give it a good wheat taste. A little thicker then some other summer ales. Still easy drinking and a nice blueberry kick on it that's nice on a summer day.
      Summer fruit beer and I gotta say I enjoy it. This is another beer that comes in a can and makes it nice for next to the pool or on the beach. Light on the fruit flavor unlike most fruit beers this one only gives you a hint. If it's hot, and your looking for a refreshing change to the summer seasonal with lemon, then grab this one and give it a try. 

Rating:***1/2

Brooklyn Summer Ale

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Brooklyn Summer Ale

• Brewery: Brooklyn Brewing Company (New York)

• Style: English Pale Ale

• ABV:5.0%

• IBU: 18

• Pour Color: Nice yellow golden color that has a slight haze. 

       The pour was nice. A fluffy head crowned a nice golden beer in the glass. The scent off the top was quite malty, with a nice tone of citrus. The head quickly sank to the sides of the glass where it would reside for the rest of the beer. The initial taste of this one is yeasty and malty. A strong taste of bread to this. After that comes a nice crisp presence of lemon and grass flavors to the hops. On swallow you get a nice biscuit taste. Really a good summer experience in a world of summer wheat beers.
      Brooklyn makes great beers! This is another one that I enjoy. Not my favorite summer ale, but still one I get a hankering for when in season. Extremely malty compared to most summer ales, it gives you something different for the season. Also it comes in a can. Don't bring bottles to the beach... Go grab a twelver of this one!

Rating:***1/2

Hop Sun

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Hop Sun

• Brewery: Southern Tier Beer (New York)
  

• Style: Wheat

• ABV: 5.1%

• IBU:

• Pour Color: A bright golden color, Easily seen through!

      As the Face pours this one, it has a nice see through body. The head was only around for a second. Hung out at the top around the outside the rest of the glass though. You get a nice hop aroma in this one. It mixes well with that wheat beer scent. Most IPA's don't achieve this kind of a scent. A nice blend of citrus and pine. Almost the level of some pale ales. The malts have there own big flavor too. A great bread flavor of the malts. A explosions of flavor in this delicious beer. 
      The Face used to bathe me in Sam Adams Summer Ale all summer. With the little kick of lemons and hops it was a good summer time beer that any one could appreciate. That's a distanced memory though! So far it's been Hop Sun every night! Light crisp but slightly hop crazy makes me and the Face huge fans. Go try some, no really?

Rating: *****

Finger Lake Summer Wheat

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Finger Lake Summer Wheat

• Brewery: Custom Brewcrafters 

• Style: Hefeweizen

• ABV:5%

• IBU: 45

• Pour Color: Golden color and quite hazy.

      On pour this one got a nice little head to it. Looked golden and glowed in the sunlight. The scents off the top were of a nice orange tone and wheat malts. After taking all that in the head was pretty much gone. On the taste you get a really really full flavored hefe. I mean it's got that crisp tone of the citrus to get the follicles tingling. It also has a nice full wheat flavor. All and all a good beer. 
       As a summer seasonal this is a kick ass beer. It's crisp, light and has a nice orange flavor that makes blue moon look boring. With this and Brewcrafters also doing The Razz, wheat beers is where it's at for them. Next really hot day pick up a six of this one. Your mustache will be refreshed after a splash of this one. 

Rating: ****1/2