Wednesday, December 12, 2007

The Ultimate Summer Ale?

Last night we ducked into the Malthouse after work to recover from the horrors of working in retail during the massacre that is Xmas. After a somewhat ropy pint of handpulled keg Tuatara IPA (odd woody medicinal character that didn’t make for ease of drinking) we ended up drinking Rodenbach Grand Cru. It fit the hot muggy night perfectly , the acidity was incredibly refreshing with the fruity flavours hitting the spot perfectly. It got me thinking about beers for summer. This summer has already seen a itched legal battle between DB and Lion with the former seeking to secure the term Summer Ale as a trademark for its ginger and honey flavoured lager, a ‘beer’ I would not wish on my worst enemy, while latter wanted to use the term Summer Ale for a rather toned down but inoffensive blond lemon grass flavoured beer. Lion won and right fully so, a style should not be trademarked. However I don’t think either beer from the big two has much to do with the English Summer Ale style.

Of course Rodenbach has little to do with that style either but my word it hit the spot on a sweltering night.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you want to try a good 'English style' summer ale Galbraiths is the place to go! His new Sirocco Summer Ale is great stuff!

Kieran Haslett-Moore said...

if I can tear myself away from Bob.

Stu as "Stu" said...

The Sirocco is a fine drop but Grafton Porter is my ultimate summer drop.


Talking Rodenbach Grand Cru, I picked up a couple of 750ml bottles at New World Island Bay recently... $9 each! Ridiculous. Who's making money off that? I should have bought 10. They're in the cellar, awaiting the right occasion.

Unknown said...

Just ordered a case of 750's for Christmas. Yum!