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Good day everyone,

it’s been a good couple weeks since our last Beer Club e-mail notice and during that time we’ve brought in loads of new beers, about 1/3 of them being more Summer beers, so this e-mail notice will be split into 2 parts as to not overwhelm you too much.  Let’s get to what we have for you…..

First, let’s start with some info about Summer Seasonal beers that we had last year and did very well with that we are anticipating having in again soon.

The Victory rep was in last week and the info I got from him was that this year they have tripled their production of Summer Love, a hoppy blonde ale that we sold many cases of in a short amount of time and then it was gone.  He said it should be readily available all Summer, in both bottles and 1/6 kegs and will be available starting May 1st.

I personally contacted 21st Amendment Brewery to find out the status on their Hell or High Watermelon Wheat Beer.  Last year I was told by our distributor that it would be available throughout the Summer and that was totally not the case.  We only got 1 shipment of it and sold out what we had quickly.  I was told via e-mail that Hell or High Watermelon will be available to NJ and that our distributor “should be able to get whatever they order, so you should not have any problem keeping it in stock.”  Should there be any issues with getting our hands on this beer, I will be glad to give you the distributor’s contact info so you can register your complaints with them personally.  For those of you not familiar with this beer, it’s a Wheat Beer brewed with fresh watermelon during a secondary fermentation.  The result is a very easy drinking and quite tasty Wheat Beer with an ample hint of watermelon, not too much so it still let’s the true characteristics of a Wheat Beer come through.  

Let’s start with the Summer beers we’ve got in stock recently:

First is Brooklyn Brewing’s take on the Summer Seasonal, Summer Ale, available in 6pk bottles and singles.  It’s an English style Pale Ale with an ABV of 5% and has an 82 rating with over 300 reviews.  It’s flavours have citrus at the fore with biscuit/bready malt, grainy malt, grassy hops and a touch of honey.  $9.49/6pk, $1.69/single

From the NE brewers, Harpoon, comes their Seasonal offering, Summer Beer.  Summer Beer is a Kolsch (light to medium bodied German beer that can be moderately or assertively hopped) with a 5.5% ABV and is available in 6pks and singles.  Like Brooklyn’s Summer Ale, it also has an 82 rating with over 300 reviews.  It’s flavours are mostly of lemon zest and grainy wheat with notes of honey and a solid hop profile of grassy/herbal/floral hops to balance out the malt sweetness and provide some added character.  $8.99/6pk, $1.59/single

From our local friendly brewery Flying Fish, we have their Farmhouse Summer Ale making it’s Seasonal return to our shelves.  Farmhouse is available in 6pks and 1/6 kegs by request.  It’s an American Blonde Ale with a Belgian twist with an ABV of 4.6%.  Farmhouse’s flavours are a base of biscuit/grainy malt with notes of citrus (lemon and orange), grassy/Earthy hops, Belgian yeast and a touch of spice at the finish.  $8.39/6pk

Next is Anderson Valley’s Summer Solstice in 6pk cans and singles.  Summer Solstice is a Cream Ale with an ABV of 5.6% and has an 84 rating with over 350 reviews.  Since it’s in cans it makes it even better for poolside/deck drinking.  It’s flavours are a base of sweet caramel/bready malt with notes of cream (as in cream soda), vanilla, honey and light fruits (peach, pear, apricot and lychee) rounded out by spicy (peppery) hops.  A little fuller (and creamier) mouthfeel than most of the Summer beers, but still one that can go down rather easy on a hot day or warm night.  $9.99/6pk, $1.79/single

The final Summer Seasonal is from the NY brewery Southern Tier, the brewery that makes the Creme’ Brule’ and PumKing Ales that we rock during the Summer and Autumn months, and it’s their Hop Sun in 6pks and singles.  Hop Sun is an American Pale Wheat Ale with an ABV of 5.1%.  It has earned an 88 rating with over 450 reviews.  It’s flavours are grainy wheat and lemon zest with notes of honeysuckle, orange, peppery spices and a hops profile of citrus/pine and floral.  $8.99/6pk, $1.59/single

From 21st Amendment Brewery we have Monk’s Blood, a Strong Dark Belgian Style Ale, in 4pk cans and singles.  Monk’s Blood has an ABV of 8.3% and an 85 rating thus far.  We didn’t get much of this one, so if you’re a fan of BSDAs then you had better move on this one.  This brew as an array of flavours starting with a base of roasted and nutty malts with notes of dark fruits (raisin, fig, plum and date), cinnamon being rather prominent, brown sugar, a nice touch of oak and spices of nutmeg and coriander.  Very complex for certain.  $9.99/4pk, $2.69/single

Oskar Blues, the brewers of Dale’s Pale Ale, has graced us with Deviant Dale’s IPA.  Deviant is an Imperial IPA with an ABV of 8% and an 89 rating with over 150 reviews.  Deviant is available in 4pk 16oz cans and singles.  It’s flavours are sweet bready malts with assertive (as in smack your taste buds around) resiny hop tones of mostly pine with grapefruit and orange and spicy herbs.  If you’re a hophead then this is a brew you should get your hands on.  $13.99/4pk, $3.79/single

The last group of beers is from the Utah brewery Uinta and they are all from their Crooked Series of 750ml bottles.  First, we’d like to announce the return of Detour Double IPA and Cockeyed Cooper Barrel Aged Barleywine.  We had both these beers in before and sold them out, the Detour especially as it’s a great value for $8.49.

The new beer from Uinta is Birthday Suit, a Sour Cherry Ale.  Birthday Suit has an ABV of 5.7% and it’s rather limited in supply as our salesman was only allocated 9 cases and we got one of them.  It’s flavours are mostly of sour cherries and oak with background notes of pale/wheat malts, funky yeast and tannins on the finish.  It’s classified as a Sour/Wild Ale, though it’s not that sour to make your mouth pucker.  It’s not sweet either as it does have a good amount of tartness to it and is rather clean on the palate.  It also has a bit of Champagne-like carbonation.  Sounds like a great Summer beer to either pair with some BBQ or to enjoy sipping on a warm night.  $13.99/bottle

This beer is out on the shelf, but please e-mail if you’d like one reserved as it’s not likely we’ll get more of this one.

That’s the end of Part One, now on to Part Two…….