beer booze in review

An Afternoon With Abita Satsuma Harvest Wit And Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy

July 21, 2011 – 9:08 PM

bottle of abita satsuma harvest wit

It’s a hot summer happy hour and there’s Abita Satsuma Harvest Wit And Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy getting chilly in my fridge. That means they’re jump-starting my buzz this afternoon. I can kick it in the lawn chair on my concrete slab of backyard and not want for anything.

And there are people that exist in this world that would sniff at that.

I say a pox on your brittle-lipped beer snobbery. Keep your fruit beer derision in your back pocket; don’t bother me. Because it’s 90-plus in the shade and I just saw an turtle crossing the street burst into flames. There’s Yertle bits seared onto my front fender so spare me the “girl beer” comments. Go choke on a handful of hops.

Don’leinenkugels summer shandy bottlet misunderstand. I think IPAs and the like are all wonderful things. But so does everyone else. Google “IPA review” right now. You’ll find a litany of “beer enthusiasts” gushing over one beer after another, employing phrases like “chewy malt profile” and “piney bitterness.”

Too often it seems as if these beers inspire lonely blowhards to dust off their Thesauruses (Thesauri?) and wax poetic. Nuts to that noise.

Meanwhile, fruit and wheat beers catch all the flak and take home none of the glory. Why? Because they’re enjoyable? Because it’s hard to sling around 10 dollar words when talking about something that can light up your pleasure center without too much consideration? That attitude needs to be corrected.

Summery deliciousness like the Abita Satsuma and Summer Shandy are necessary components to proper warm weather boozing. Lazing in the shade and pondering the mechanisms of one’s day-to-day with a light, crisp ale is one of very few activities that make the sweltering summer heat bearable. These delicious beers should be honored as the heroes they are.

En garde! I’ll let you try my tasting notes:

Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy – there is an alternate reality where Corona makes a good, crisp beer then adds a squeeze of fresh lemon to every bottle so it tastes delicious. This is that beer.

Abita Satsuma Harvest Wit – see above. Replace lemon with orange. Tasty.

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beer booze in review

Tundra Brewery’s Ma-Pale Ale Rocks New York Pride

July 12, 2011 – 1:09 PM

tundra brewery ma-pale ale labelA month or so ago, Tundra Brewery, a DIY microbrewer from the mountains of upstate New York, was gaining all kinds of notoriety around New York City. They even got props from the New York Times’ food and drink blog. Since their inaugural brew Ma-Pale Ale is made from hops and barley grown in-state, Tundra is the first microbrewery to peddle their wares at Union Square Greenmarket.

I was besieged by intrigue; that is to say, I was kind of interested. The idea of a homegrown homebrew conjures up images of boiling wort in a wrought iron cauldron over an open flame. Of remedying the parched throats of travelers passing through the remotest reaches of the Catskill Mountains by serving frothy mugs of ale out of a ramshackle farmhouse. Of bringing your goods to market via wooden cart drawn by a team of horses (Not Clydesdales. That would be corny).

Sure, that’s overly romantic but I’m three beers deep and in a mood for doling out purple prose. And there is a connection – however tenuous – between the efforts of microbrewing folks like Tundra and the dusty, unwashed days of the brewing industry when honest people could cook up the secret family beer recipe and sell it out of their house to the community at large for fun and profit. It’s that little guy pluck and ingenuity what makes Tundra Brewery a noble enterprise. It’s that support of the noble little guy what colors my buzz with an aristocratic air.

Some people are patrons of the arts; I’m a patron of ragtag booze makers.

Now pick up these tasting notes I’m putting down for their Ma-Pale Ale: cloudy amber color, unfiltered for reals, light toasty nose, touch of bitter hops on the finish, dry, light, touch of maple syrup.

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beer booze in review

Abita Strawberry Harvest Lager Is A Quality Summer Quaff

July 4, 2011 – 7:28 PM

abita-strawberry-harvest-lager

I spotted the Abita Strawberry Harvest Lager neatly stacked in the beer aisle of the Key Food the other week. A loud sign exclaimed it was a Weekly Special. At $11 for a six pack it didn’t feel too special but this is the summertime so it’s OK to live it up a little bit. Plus, I had just returned from the wilds of Long Island’s east end with a handful of farm fresh strawberries. So this sudden appearance of strawberry beer amongst the usual, pedestrian Key Food brew offerings seemed a signal of divine origin.

Note: proper drinking behavior is rooted in equal parts science and superstition. If your imbibing attitudes lack a mystical element, you’re doing it wrong.

Oh, you want some tasting notes? Dig it: Light golden color, banana-y wheat beer nose, dry, crisp and just enough strawberry fruit on the finish. Very summery, very refreshing.

It’s not a brew for the beer geeks who let loose with snorts of derision if an ale isn’t packed with enough hops to singe your nosehairs. It’s the kind of beer required for outdoor lounging on a summer afternoon when the sun is out and not going home ’til well after eight.

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booze in review liqueur

American Fruits Bourbon Barrel Aged Apple Liqueur Has Lengthy Moniker, Is Delicious

April 16, 2011 – 2:07 PM

american fruits bourbon apple liqueurConsider:

  • We know Bourbon whiskey is good.
  • We know apples are delicious (and excellent doctor deterrents).
  • We know fruit and booze concoctions can be expressions of genius.

Does it not stand to reason that the fermented juice of those apples aged in whiskey barrels would result in brilliant, delicious, goodness?

Well, it does.

Direct from the apple groves of the Hudson Valley in New York, American Fruits Bourbon Barrel Aged Apple Liqueur is a blend of apple cider and apple brandy that’s aged in Bourbon barrels for 12 months. The subsequent elixir smells of smoky caramel and warm cider. A lightly sweet palate is rounded out by hints of tart apple fruit and Bourbon.

It’s great as an after dinner drink that’s nice and light or as the hooch of choice for cider fans who don’t mind an extra kick.

 

 

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gin recipes

Gin Gimlets Save You From Scurvy

March 20, 2011 – 10:13 PM

Some interesting reading from Todd Appel on the history of lime cordials, gin gimlets and the British navy:

The origins of the Gimlet lie, rather, in the general time line of history from the use of lime juice in the Royal Navy as a preventative and cure for scurvy, the attempts to preserve lime juice for future use, the attempts to make it both palatable to the sailors (who were required to drink it) and to the general public and their growing tastes for non-alcoholic beverages and mixers in England in the later 19th century, and, finally, that gin was the spirit of choice among the officer class and aboard ship.

Drunk sailors led to delicious cocktails! Neat, right? Plus there’s a handy recipe for cooking up your own lime cordial so you can stave off scurvy at home. And because using Rose’s feels like cheating.

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