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.