With the temperatures increasing and the sun staying
up later, I am sure you are all looking for some clues on what kind of beers are out there and what you should be looking for. I am a big fan of drinking whatever style or beer is your particular favourite, but I am also always excited to drink seasonally, and with the hotter weather I know I will be looking for some refreshing wheats and lower ABV milds for my outdoor drinking. Here is a quick break down on some summer styles to look for, and look to Adam’s article on the CAMRA Vancouver’s exec picks for summer beers.
Keep in mind that you should drink what you enjoy most and don’t feel obligated to stick to any seasonal styles. And even more, there are many more styles out there that do suit the summer heat and outdoor BBQs or camping trips. Here are some of the styles I will be looking for this summer.
Wheats:
To start, Wheats. Though there are many different beers that contain wheat, I am only going to focus on two categories, American wheats and weizens. American Wheats have a clean profile and a lighter body, while German and Belgian wheats have bigger ester profiles, giving those ester and phenol banana and clove notes. Both should have a thick and creamy head from the wheat’s protein, as well as a crispy and citrusy characteristic. American wheats are typically fermented with a neutral american wheat, lacking the fruity spice characteristics of other wheats. This is made up in drinkability. Usually lightly hopped and very clean on the palate, American wheats often are combined with fruits, spices or dry hopped to showcase the variety of produce that comes around with the season. I’ll talk more on adding fruit to beers later here.
Weizen is the german term of wheat, so included in this category is hefeweizens, kristalweizens (a crystal clear, filtered version of the hefe), dunkel weizen and weizenbock. Hefeweizens should have a consistent haze that arrises from yeast that remains in suspension. Sometime the yeast will settle on the bottom of the bottle, but it isn’t a flaw, they might need a bit of a swirl of the bottle to rouse the settled yeast. By fermenting at a higher temperature, the fruity character of the yeast comes through, and if you are looking for something with more of a yeast forward beer, you can look forward to clove, banana, spice or even bubblegum notes from the fermentation. There are even some beers that I have tried that have a distinct cotton candy aroma, and when coupled with a high finishing gravity come out more like candy than a beer.
Saisons:
Hopefully some of you made it out to Farmhouse Fest, which was
hosted by the UBC farm on June 18th. This event is one of the best of the year in terms of letting you get a chance to try some beers that are harder to find. Here, breweries have an opportunity to show some of their limited releases. Aside from the wild range of sours and rare brews that were available, Saisons were showcased. Saisons are another yeast forward beer, characteristically giving off herbal and peppery aromas. To further enhance theses flavours and aromas, spices such as coriander, pepper, grains of paradise and many others are added to the beer. Saisons can range from a hazy pale straw colour to dark amber, but typically finish very dry, highlighting the yeast’s profile.
Milds and ISAs:
In addition to drinking these flavourful wheats, in the summer we are looking for those thirst quenching, sessionable lower alcohol beers. Both ISAs, India Session Ales as well as Milds are my go-to. Hugely underrated, a well put together lower alcohol beer is just as flavourful but allows you to have a few more. ISA is an excellent but lighter version of an IPA, with bold hop aroma and flavour backed by a solid malt base. Like any IPA, your palate shouldn’t be ruined by an outrageous bitterness that you can’t untaste, but it should give you that lingering bitterness and hop forward aroma that you associate with an IPA. On the other side of the malt/hop balance are Milds. Ranging from pale amber to dark, milds are generally malt forward with less hops. These beers are typically from 3-4.5% and are brewed for sessionability. With a lower carbonation and a clean finish, this is my favourite style to bring when out camping and in the sun.
Fruit Beers:
With the summer season, we see a huge increase in the available fruit beers out there. peaches, blueberries, cherries and just about anything else can be added to any style. Often we see pairings with wheat beers and sours, but there are a number of great pale ales and IPAs that have fruit added. The goal isn’t to create a beer/juice hybrid, but an intentional combination that highlights the qualities of the fruit and the beer together. A tart Berliner with peach or raspberry accentuates the acidity in the fruit, and make for a refreshing combination.
Citrus fruits work well with our hoppy west coast IPAs. Another style that has made a big comeback is the Radler. Last year we saw a number of lower alcohol tart grapefruit beers, usually starting with a light lager or pilsner base and blending in a mixture of grapefruit or lemon soda. Very easy drinking and refreshing, these are very approachable fruit beers.
I hope I managed to give you a bit more knowledge about some of the beers that will be out there this summer and give you a chance to learn a bit about what you will be drinking. As always, drink what you enjoy, and don’t feel restricted by what is out there. I have a good friend who swears by a dry stout in the summer, and there are no beer rules out here. There are so many other beer styles that I haven’t included in this article, lagers which are getting much better in Vancouver, or some of the pilsners that have come out recently are fantastic. There isn’t enough space left in this article to give a deeper look at these styles, but hopefully in the next few newsletters I will have the chance to.
If you come across anything that you think stands out, let me know at vp@camravancouver.ca.
Cheers,
Kerry Dyson
Vice President, CAMRA BC – Vancouver Branch
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