Beer Review: Geary's Summer Ale

I haven't been drinking a whole lot lately (still trying to work off a little Winterspeck), so now that I'm finally getting around to reviewing one of my summer beers, it's barely summer anymore. Seriously, look at your calendar. But I won't let that stop me from prattling on a bit about a tasty brew.

Geary's is probably best known for their pale ale, and a fine pale it is. I'm writing about their Summer Ale, however, which I hadn't tried previously. Summer ales are always a bit risky. A lot of brewers put out some weak-ass beer and call it their summer ale just because it's light in color or tastes slightly lemony. I hate to disparage Wachusett Brewing Company because a) it was started by some guys from my alma mater and b) many of their beers, especially their Nut Brown Ale, are really quite good. But their Summer Ale falls into the weak-ass, slightly lemony category and I can't endorse it. Lemon: summer ales as cloves: winter ales. At least I can tolerate the lemon...cloves in beer is just wrong.

But I digress. Here's the description of the Summer Ale off the Geary's site:

The style of our summer ale is traditionally European, similar to a German kolsch: full bodied with a spicy hop tang and a rich, crystal clear golden color. Alcohol content is approximately 6% by volume.

Availability: April - September

Original gravity: 1060

Alcohol by volume: 6%

Ingredients: Two row English malt (clarity, wheat and caramalt); Magnum, Tettnang and Saaz hops.

So there's the technical stuff, but how does it taste? The beer pours a nice, light amber with just a touch of lacy head. The smell has notes of citrus, but not overwhelmingly so. The first taste, if the beer is cold, will seem pretty mild at first, perhaps slightly nutty. Then the hops hit, and that was a surprise. There are probably a few breweries out there that would go so far as to call this a pale ale or IPA due to the hoppiness. I've been drinking enough extra-hoppy IPAs lately (like Magic Hat's Lucky Kat) that I know this doesn't come close to an IPA, but it is the hoppiest summer ale I've ever tried. I'm guessing upper 30s/lower 40s for the IBU. Unlike a lot of IPAs, I find that this beer only improves as it warms (I write, as I take another sip), which is a nice feature for a summer ale. I confess that you can taste a bit of citrus in the finish, but the hops balances it enough that it doesn't taste like somebody squeezed a drop of lemon juice into a Bud.

At 6% alcohol, this is too strong for a session beer, but maybe if you had a really looong session it could work. I see this matching just about anything grilled, but particularly strong tasting seafood might work best. Then again, I'm probably being influenced by the lobster on this year's label (the picture on this post is from last year). It's also a fine beer to have on its own, which is what I'm doing right now. Hey, it may only be Wednesday, but it's been a long week already and this beer tastes very good.

Grab this one while you still can, and if you can, since I don't know how far out of New England Geary's distributes. If you miss it, put it on your list for next summer.