River Horse Summer Blonde Ale

There is a lot to like about this beer.

First of all it is produced by River Horse Brewing in Lambertville New Jersey. I currently live in New Jersey and like it, which will naturally produce a biased attitude.

Second, I love the Hippo they use on their labels (Hippopotamus means River Horse in Greek).

Third, I do not know much about the history of the River Horse Brewery other than according to their website it seems to be run by two guys named Chris and Glen who before they purchased the brewery in 2007 "were finance geeks living in a world without soul". The world of craft beer brewing seems to be full of stories like this, and this particular story makes me want to like this beer.

Unfortunately, there is nothing particularly distinctive about this beer.

There is a crispness to it that makes this a very clean drinkable beer and it is fun to look at the cartoon hippo and entertain my own fantasy about starting a craft brewery on the banks of the Delaware River, but otherwise.... ho hum.

We are well into the dog days of summer and I have tried quite a few summer beers. It seems that a common tactic for brewers is to crank out a low-alcohol, mild tasting ale, slap a clever label on it and ride the wave of enthusiasm for "summer beers" that was initiated by the Boston Beer Company when they started producing Sam Adams Summer Ale a few years ago.

This beer doesn't taste bad, but it doesn't have any flavor characteristic that makes it stand out.

Tom likes this beer and thinks that you will too, especially if you are from New Jersey.

Sierra Nevada Summerfest

During the 1980's beer production in America entered a renaissance phase with the emergence of small craft or micro breweries.

Beer lovers who wanted something with more flavor and character than the mass produced lagers distributed by the large commercial brewers like Miller and Anheuser Busch no longer had to seek out the smaller regional brewers like Shiner and Point who were able to survive prohibition and the depression.

Brewers like the Boston Beer Company and Sierra Nevada started creating unique and flavorful brews and stimulated many others to follow in their footsteps.

It is not surprising that Sierra Nevada has created a great summer beer.

The mild hop flavor of Summerfest is just right, like many of the summer beers I have tried this pilsner style lager is very drinkable.

Tom likes this beer and thinks that you will too.

Curious Traveler Shandy

I found this beer on draft at O'Callaghan's on West Hubbard in Chicago.

When I quizzed the barmaid on it's provenance she said that she thought that it was produced collaboratively by the Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) and Magic Hat.

She was close, very close.

Curious Traveler Shandy is produced by a "craft beer collaboration" called Alchemy and Science in Burlington Vermont. Alchemy and Science is operated by Alan Newman who co-founded Magic Hat Brewing Company (with Bob Johnson) and Stacey Steinmetz who according to the Alchemy and Science web site was "employee number one" at Magic Hat.

Alan and Stacey started Alchemy and Science in 2010 when Magic Hat was sold. They also claim on their website that Alchemy and Science is an  "independently operating" subsidiary of The Boston Beer Company.

Alchemy and Science has a great pedigree so it is no surprise that they also make a great beer

Curious Traveler is a all malt wheat ale with a lemon flavor that was immediately pleasant and not too sweet.

This is a smooth drinkable beer was served to me in a glass with a handle bar mustache on the reverse side which makes it look like you have a handle bar mustache while drinking (get it?).

The only catch is that this beer has fairly limited distribution in: New Hampshire, Rhode Island, SE Massachusetts, Washington DC, Northern Virginia, Pittsburgh, Tampa, NE Ohio, Indiana, Chicago and Minneapolis. There is a locator tool on their website to tell you exactly where you can find Curious Traveler.

Alan Newman told me that distribution in the greater New York metropolitan area "will hopefully be available towards the end of August" and that they are also now producing a bottled version of Curious Traveler.

Alchemy and Science is definitely a "craft beer collaboration" worth paying attention to. 

Their intent is to "increase awareness of craft-brewed beers and support preservation of the craft". They have acquired a brewery in Los Angeles called Angel City Brewing Company 
and they are promising to "push the boundaries of what a shandy can be". In fact, they have already announced that they are working on a second shandy, Tenacious Traveler, which should be available around September.

I am very curious to see what that will be like! (Sorry, that whole handle bar mustache thing made me a little giddy).

Tom really likes this beer and is certain that if you make the effort to find it you will too.

Goose Island Summertime

I traveled through Northern Illinois and Chicago last week and I came across a couple of beers that typically aren't available to me in my home state of New Jersey.

Goose Island Summertime is produced by one of the more prominent micro breweries in the Midwest.

Established in Chicago in 1988 Goose Island was one of the first brewpubs in the country. It is easily comparable with Gordon Biersch which also started out as a brewpub in Palo Alto in 1988.

My experience with Goose Island is very favorable. The Honkers Ale and 312 are outstanding beers.

This is a pleasant tasting beer, but it lacks any specific distinguishing taste characteristics. The neck label indicates that this beer is to be served in a Kolsch glass (whatever that is). I tried, but I just couldn't locate a Kolsch glass in Sterling, Illinois where I happened to run across this brew.


The term "summer beer" obviously means different things to different people and brewers. In this case we get a lighter tasting, slightly lower alcohol beer that is very palatable and is going to be appealing to a large number of people.


I happen to feel that a brewer of a "summer beer" should take advantage of the opportunity to add some flavor elements that can distinguish the beer and tie in with some other tastes and flavors that we associate with the summer season.


Tom likes this beer and thinks that you will too (just don't forget your Kolsch glass).

Point "Nude Beach" Summer Wheat

There are at least three things that make this beer very appealing.

First, this is a great name for a summer beer.

Second, the label actually has NAKED PEOPLE ON IT!

Third, it is from the Stevens Point Brewery in Stevens Point Wisconsin which is yet one other great regional brewery that has been around forever and successfully survived prohibition and the depression.

The current trend in craft and micro-breweries owes a great deal to brewers like Stevens Point (and Spoetzl and Leinenkugel as I have mentioned before).

I also have a lot of fond memories of Point Beer. Way back when I was in college in Illinois it was a real treat when someone brought some Point Beer back to school with them. Summer vacationers from Illinois regularly brought back beer acquired during vacation fishing trips to Wisconsin.

It was a real surprise to see a beer from Point at my local liquor store in New Jersey. The reputation of the brewer and the name of the beer just made me want to try it.

I just can’t get overly excited about the taste of this beer though. It certainly tastes good, and it is definitely not offensive. It just doesn’t have any particular distinguishing taste characteristic that makes it stands out.

This would be a acceptable beer to serve at a large party this summer. The taste is smooth and not going to surprise anyone and the name and the label make a great conversation starter.

Tom likes this beer and thinks that most people won’t hate it.

Leinenkugel Summer Shandy

Having grown up and spent a considerable amount of time in the Midwest I am a big fan of the Leinenkugel family of beers, particularly their Red Lager.


Similar to the Spoetzl Brewery of Shiner Texas, the Leinenkugel brewery of Chippewa Falls Wisconsin is one of the great regional brewers to have survived prohibition and the depression. Although Leinenkugel is owned by SABMiller, they are not actively associated with the other beers marketed by the huge global brewer. It is actually difficult to locate any of the Leinenkugel beers on SABMiller corporate website. I did not find any reference to the Summer Shandy on the SABMiller website at all.


It really doesn't matter what their corporate affiliation is, Leinenkugel produces great beer.

Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy is favorite of my daughters, my wife and my niece who is staying with us this summer. I also enjoy this beer but the lemonade flavor comes on a little too strong for me.

It seems to be a challenge for brewers to develop a summer beer that adds the appropriate amount of “summer flavor” without overwhelming the taste of the beer itself. However, it is obvious that creating a “beer that doesn’t taste like a beer” has strong appeal to certain demographic groups.
I still prefer my beer to taste like beer, but I won’t pass up a Summer Shandy if it is offered to me.


Tom likes this beer and thinks that you might like it too.

Shiner Ruby Redbird

So far this is my favorite summer beer of 2012 and could be the standard that I compare all others to during the next few months.

Shiner beers produced by the Spoetzel Brewery of Shiner Texas have been a favorite of mine since I lived in Texas in the mid eighties.

Spoetzel was one of the few small independent brewers that survived prohibition. The current renaissance occurring among craft brewers owes a great deal to small regional brewers like Spoetzel that created unique beers as an alternative to the larger beer brands that dominated the beer marketplace during the second half of the 20th century.

I was pleasantly surprised when I saw this particular label at my local liquor store. I was not aware that Shiner was producing a summer beer and I was also surprised by the ingredient that distinguishes Ruby Redbird from every other summer beer.

Shiner uses Texas Rio Red Grapefruit, “the signature sweet citrus of the Rio Grande Valley” to give this beer a very pleasant citrus flavor without being too sweet.

Although many summer beers use some type of citrus I am not aware of any that use grapefruit. It doesn’t sound appealing at first but the result is very pleasing.

Tom likes this beer and
bets that you will too.