Hop Sun and Summer Wiezen Ale
This afternoon I wanted to sit out in the warm sun and enjoy a lazy afternoon outside. Lounging in the sun is best done with beer in hand so naturally my thoughts turned to what I should grab from the cellar. I was in the mood for something refreshing — a wheat beer seemed the obvious choice. The next decision was to choose which kind of wheat beer: German, Belgian, or American.
A few weeks ago when the temperature first soared up into the 60s I picked up a couple of bottles of wheat beer in preparation for these warm spring afternoons in the yard, but before I could drink them, the weather turned wintery again. The wheat beers were Hop Sun from Southern Tier and Summer Weizen from Smuttynose.
Southern Tier is in Lakewood, New York and has a whole line-up of beers. The Hop Sun is an American Wheat Beer dry hopped with Centennial hops which give the beer a slight grapefruity twang.
Smuttynose, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, brewer some very fine beers. I was particularly impressed with the Farmhouse Ale, a seasonal offering that comes out in the Summer. Look for that one again at the beginning of July.
The Smuttynose Summer Weizen Ale is closer to a Belgian wheat beer even though its brewed in American and has the German word for wheat on its label. The ale is fermented with a Belgian Wit yeast, but my taster didn’t pick up much of the orange peel and coriander that is typically added to Belgian Wits.
Since last week I promised to write about beer blends made with Lindeman’s Framboise (Raspberry) Lambic, I opened a bottle of that and topped a glass of each of the wheat beers with a generous splash.
Denise liked the Hop Sun/Framboise combo. She said it was more interesting since it had a hoppy edge to it to contrast with the sweetness of the Framboise. I liked the Smuttynose Summer Wiezen/Framboise combo better because it was smoother and lighter, but perhaps that’s what I really needed on a beautifully warm spring day on Long Island.
