Anderson Valley’s Summer Solstice is not just your average summer seasonal
By Jeffrey Gredlein | The Beer Snob
As a beer writer, my preferences definitely come out in my columns. If you have ever read these pages before, you know I lean toward seasonal drinking; certain beers work better at different times of the year. I’m also a huge fan of malt, although I’m not opposed to all things hoppy. And while my tastes have changed some over the years, and beers I once loved I no longer select, my seasonal and malt leanings remain.
In the early days of my beer journey, I wrongly thought (more likely hoped or expected) cream ale to be something, well, creamy, sweet, and possibly closer to a milk shake beer than a fizzy, yellow adjunct-laden, mass-produced lager. Either due in part to the nitrogenized cream ale beers of the UK, or the similarity in name to beers in the lactose or milk/sweet stout style, I think my hopes were more in line with a cream soda beer.
This brings me to an American original beer, the light hybrid known as Cream Ale, possibly the most misleading named style of beer available. To begin, most Cream Ales are more similar to American lagers and light lagers. Still, they will offer more flavor than either of these, and should be a great choice as a lawnmower/beach beer.
With standard cream ales, you will get a bright golden to dull straw colored beer, sparkling and with a huge head of creamy foam. Expect a gentle malt aroma, maybe a hint of grain, especially pale malt, and with the lighter versions, possible adjunct notes of corn or some other sweeter smell. If hops are present, they will be faint and mostly noticeable in the flavor of the beer. Some American brewers are highly hopping their craft Cream Ales, as they do, but classic versions will have little bitterness in taste. Most will be light bodied, refreshing and somewhat dry.
The Classic version of the style is the Genesee Cream Ale. The Brewery claims its cream ale gives the flavor of an ale, the smoothness of a lager. In fact, the beer is pretty weak. It resembles a macro lager, with a bit more malt, sweeter with slightly more body.
The cream ale I offer is very different from Genny Cream Ale, and I believe, much closer to my former dreams of what the style should be like. Anderson Valley Brewing Company’s Summer Solstice is by far my favorite cream ale. When I think cream ale, right or wrong, I want a touch of sweet (cream) and a smooth (creamy) mouthfeel. Summer Solstice offers both.
The beer pours a lovely bright amber color, clear with a tall head of off white foam. Delicious aromas leap out of the cap, including sweet malt and caramel, with an almost buttercream and peaches smell. Summer Solstice has a fantastic flavor as well, with bready sweeter malts and a slight fruitiness in a non-citrus way.
I get a notion of very gently sweetened tea. My idea of cream soda is pretty apparent as well in that there’s a touch of vanilla in the mix. Unlike most summer beers, Summer Solstice has a medium mouthfeel, and leans to the creamy side, compared with the carbonated and spicy/prickly tingle of many lagers.
From Anderson Valley’s website: “not just your average summer seasonal” says the brewery, and I highly agree. This beer doesn’t really follow too closely to the style, but in any case, it’s delightful. Enjoy the brews … Cheers.
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