Craft beer has positively detonated over the last few years. Brews in nearly any flavor combination imaginable have populated not only store shelves but pubs and bars across the nation, and have also caught the attention of the ever popular macro breweries (Budweiser, Miller). According to a June article by Forbes, craft beer sales have grown 17.6 percent per year.
With the summer slowly coming to a close – if you ignore the 110-degree weather – there’s still time to mark the season with your own ideal celebration. For many, these involve wine on a sunlit vineyard or lemonade on the beach. For me, it's either grabbing a custom six-pack from my favorite craft beer store or going to The Whining Pig for happy hour.
See More: The Whining Pig caters to craft beer lovers and wine aficionados alike
Over the course of the season, I dabbled with a variety of craft brews. While some of these may not be “seasonal” summer beers, here’s what I enjoyed when it was too damn hot to step outside.
Victory at Sea – Ballast Point (San Diego)
Without any restraint, Victory at Sea hits you with a little jump with each sip, partly due to its 10 percent alcohol by volume, and partly to its coffee bearings. But if you can handle it, the blend of coffee and vanilla immediately goes to work on a near even keel. You’ll taste the coffee more than you’ll taste the vanilla, but a chocolate undertone supports both with a malty finish. Coffee-tinted beers are slowly on the rise, and this (with the later Imperial Java Stout) are ones to try if you’re interested in this alternate blend.
Grapefruit Sculpin – Ballast Point
I hate list repetition as much as the next guy, but the Grapefruit Sculpin is here for a reason, since it’s about as summer as summer gets. It’s an India Pale Ale that’s immediately refreshing on each try – every sip is full of hops and the titular fruit slapped together in a set that is bitterly sweet as you go, but also well balanced. And with that balance, the Sculpin becomes a drink that's easy to have a session with if you crave more, a sensation that’s helped by a 7 percent alcohol by volume, making it relatively easy to drink.
Dark, Rich & Sexy Porter – Founder’s Brewing (Grand Rapids, Michigan)
Smooth is the best way to describe this brilliant porter from Founder’s, and it’s the truth – the lack of resistance this puts up is a brilliant compensation to the chocolate embedded in the flavor. And there’s a lot of chocolate to behold here. The best thing about it is that the flavor is consistent throughout each sip with no aftertaste, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing considering the possibility of overkill. In short – it's easy to drink, making it one for a session.
Imperial Java Stout – Santa Fe Brewing (Santa Fe, New Mexico)
As said earlier, coffee beers aren’t ones to be taken lightly and the Java Stout is no different. While not as strong as Victory at Sea, this one doesn’t dabble with other flavors, choosing instead to infuse hops and beans into one rousing blend of alcoholic coffee. Best thing is, the two flavors play nice with one another to convert what might have ended up as a wall of bitterness into a wave of tangy deliciousness, which is a strange thing to say about coffee.
Black O’ Lantern Pumpkin Stout – Wasatch Brewery (Park City, Utah)
I didn't want this one to end, but having only bought a single bottle on a custom six-pack spree makes the fault my own. I say this because not only was this one absolutely refreshing (scary jack-o'-lantern on the label notwithstanding,) it’s deliciously sweet without being too strong. The sweet tang of the pumpkin shadows the hops in this stout, but not enough to kill any sense of supporting bitterness. It’s sneakily strong however, with a 6.5 percent alcohol by volume creeping up like so many ghosts in a cemetery. But even though it’s billed as a fall beer, you can still drink this one in the heat with nary a worry about seasons.
Honorable Mention: Hard Root Beer - Coney Island Brewing (Brooklyn, New York)
Oh my word, this one was sweet — as in festival/pier food sweet. But Coney Island's Hard Root Beer is meant to emulate that sense of hardcore candy one could rarely get anywhere else. It's literally a hops-infused root beer, but any sensation of hops is completely lost with the vanilla and licorice flavors mixed into it. It definitely takes some getting used to, but if you can soldier past the sugary sensations, it's surprisingly satisfying. Those without sweet teeth will want to look elsewhere.
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Reach the reporter at djulienr@asu.edu, or on Twitter @legendpenguin.
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